My Life on the Net

Don’t forget that tomorrow is the big shave at 6pm EST (probably won’t start for real until 6.30 or 7pm - time and one-person permitting).  More about it, and an extra special surprise tomorrow.  Can you believe that today is the last day of NaBloPoMo?  Well, we all made it and all my limbs are still attached.  I won’t be doing it next month, but I’ll talk about what I’ve got planned tomorrow.

Now the meme.  This one is from Sunday Stealing, and it’s easy. Finish the sentence!

1. My uncle once had a big debate with me on the pros and cons of Linux.  At a wedding reception.  With suits on.  Not my idea of a linux geek.
   
2. Never in my life have I seen a ghost, but many members of my family claim they have.
   
3. When I was five my parents bought me a RC car, which I promptly broke 5 minutes later after wondering if it would survive a drop from an ironing board.
4. High school was not the best time in my life…
5. I will never forget to go to a meeting or class, or ever be late, unless something bad has happened… or I’ve slept in.
6. Once I met someone who knew me from a video I posted online. Since then I’ve been scared s**tless that it’ll happen again, but inside wanting it to happen more and more.
7. There’s this boy I know who is turning into a mac addict and I have no idea where it came from.  Still, he’s joining the light side… gotta be worth something.
8. Once, at a bar, I drunk with friends that thought I was four years older than I am… that being, when I was 14.
9. By noon, I’m thinking of getting dressed - but I’m normally still in my pyjamas [only during days when I'm not at university, of course].
10. Last night I stayed up till two playing computer games, and I don’t regret it a single bit.
11. If only I had a way of traveling thousands of miles for free, or really… really… cheaply.
12. Next time I go to church I won’t be the one playing Clarinet as part of my old high school band.
13. What worries me most is that I may be without a mother sooner rather than later, and hoping that I’m wrong.
14. When I turn my head left I see my espresso machine, screaming at me to make another cup.
    
15. When I turn my head right I see an orange wall and my phone trying to tell me I’m late for something.
16. You know I’m lying when I start crying like a little girl.  Nah, not really… when I start stratching.
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is nothing. I wasn’t around for most of it.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be the skull in the “To Be, or Not to be?” skit.  No lines, and I don’t have to do anything!
19. By this time next year I will be two centimeters to the right, and hopefully with less of a belly on me.
20. A better name for me would be Craig. Just Craig. Then nobody would have a last name of mine to say wrong.
21. I have a hard time understanding other languages, especially the ones I’ve never actually heard or seen before…
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll be promptly hiding from the headmistress, who I didn’t like too much and asked for too many things to be done.
23. You know I like you if I don’t mention it… ever… unless the other party is fairly obvious in their like for myself.  Seriously, I’m a dumbass when I comes to relationships.
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be myself, I’m the one who one it!  Nah, probably my family for supporting me.
25. Take my advice, never tinker with computer components that require soldering when you know your skills are less than capable.

Now I’d love to chat more but if you know anything about Edinburgh, today is the day of the fireworks! So, I’ve got to run off and catch some flickr photographers up town (if you’re from Edinburgh. NCP car park, just off Lothain Rd at 8pm.)

So it’s getting into day 25 of the wonderful, and thoroughly enjoyable, NaBloPoMo - and one thing it’s introduced me to is the world of memes.  It’s a pretty cool idea, and while some people find it slightly annoying I think it can provide some pretty cool insight into people.

Like when I’m talking to the awesome girl (which is Corinne) we seem to always find a way to talk about which food we’ve either got in each of our respective countries, or what we’ve ever tasted.  She’s never had haggis and I’ve never had a corn dog.  It happens, and we each swear we’ll try it sometime.

I got this from Return to Rural, and should be pretty interesting.

Here’s the idea:-

1. Copy this into your own blog, including these instructions.
2. Bold all of the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out (or italicise) any items you would never consider eating.
4. Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5. Pass it on!

So, let’s go.

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. aba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese (is this fake cheese? if so, yes)
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

Thanks for reading, and if you want to keep reading something help my friend Mur Lafferty out by buying her novel Playing For Keeps. Definitely recommended!  And you know… if you’re feeling generous…

Looks like something happened the other day. Basically, Scriber’s Web has decided to probe my life and tagged me.

The Rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks you possess.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

The List:

1. I spend a good couple of hours each day procrastinating.  When I need to go out and do something I’ll stop myself and surf the net for 20 minutes.  It’s even worse when I go to put my socks on - I often stop and just zone out after putting on one sock only to continue when a family member notices and questions me in confusion.
2. It takes a long time for me to realise that someone is hitting on me because I never expect anyone to be interested in me that way.  I’ve only noticed afterwards when friends tell me later on what just happened.  Hell, one girl spent about 2 weeks trying and none of my friends dared to tell me.  The one day she approached me I was confused and only tried to call her after it happened, when she returned home. The only problem - I used my geeky ways to get the phone number and probably freaked her out because of it. Meh.
3. I am terrible at not finishing things when I don’t have deadlines.  Whenever I start my own projects I manage to screw them up.  I have about 4 projects in the works in which some are reaching a year old - with only preliminary ideas written up.  So, I’ve set myself a deadline that I’ll hopefully finish secret projects #2-5 in 27 days.
4. I have a pretty accurate body clock.  This comes in handy during late nights when I can’t find or don’t want to set an alarm.  I look at the clock, tell myself when I want to be woken up, and I wake up naturally almost every time.  However, when the alarm is set and my body knows when I need to get up, not when I want to be, it’ll keep me sleeping until the last possible minute.
5. I am excellent at beginner’s luck.  I’ve had so many sucesses that only occured the first time - such as playing games (Hole in One when I played Tiger Woods 2006 for example), starting new hobbies and well… relationships.  Now I just need to be good at repeating my sucesses then I’m set for life!
6. I unconciously tap whatever song I’m listening to whenever I’m on the move.  Some people think I’m crazy when i do it, but it’s something I’ve just done for most of my life. (Alongside remembering a song by singing it - that was sooo embarrasing when I moved to high school).

So, now I have to figure out who I’m going to tag with this wonderful thing. Well, first i’m going to be honest with you all - while i’ve been blogging for over a year and a half I haven’t really ‘connected’.  Not to say I haven’t read other people’s blogs, but it’s only recently I’ve been actively communicating between different bloggers.  So, this is going to be a short-ish list.

I’ll get back to you on that. It’s a little late here in Scotland and after a long day (and an unexpected shopping trip) I’m too tired to actually think of people’s names…  Don’t worry, I’ll put them in tomorrow’s blog post.

There’s something wrong with the embedding of the video right now, so if you could make your way to this page to watch it, that’d be great…

I seem to get this notion into my head every two or so months after my hair starts getting a little long and I have to consider what the hell I want to do about it.  This time I haven’t even managed to reach a month.

I don’t really understand why it’s so socially unacceptable. I mean I know it’s been connected to the whole idea of neo-nazism and biker gangs and the rest, and I’ll have nothing to do with those kinda things.  I like the idea for it’s religious connotations.  Ok, some of the people reading will know I’m not religious but it makes a good point.  In some eastern religions people do this in time of need as a sacrifice.  But it’s not only that, it’s also sacrificing parts of your identity for a greater cause.

Yes - I have thoughts, yet again, to shave my very large head (and I mean… large… meh, we’ll get into that another day).

I have a few reasons that I’m thinking of doing this:-

• It’s cheap.
• It’s convinent.
• It’s a time saver.
• It’s a change from the hairstyle I’ve had for over 10 years.
• It’s a lesson.
• I’ve always wanted to know what it would look like.
• It’ll stop this gorram dandruff I’ve got right now that no dandruff shampoo seems to be able to fix.
• It saves me feeling uncomfortable in a barbers trying to make small talk.
• It’ll save me feeling uncomfortable when, each time I visit the barbers, they repeat how thick my hair is.
• It’ll stop me doing this really annyoing habit of picking out my hair when I’m bored.
• I’m moving back to Dundee in September.  If I do it then, my parents won’t know for over a month - in which I can decide if I like it… or not (and by then I’ll have an excuse made up if I don’t.)
• I want to wear a baseball cap without thinking about the hair underneath.
• I love the feel of short hair when I get my hair cut, especially the ultra-short bits at the back of the neck.
• I bet some people will think it’s hot to be so different and have the nerve to do it.
• Since I won’t have hair to express my personality, it’ll help me reach out more and show people what I’m really like.

So. A few reasons.

But I wasn’t going to jump in the pool without doing the research - and my research involves photoshop… maybe…

I don’t think I look too bad in this pic - it’s not perfect, but it works and is definitely better than the garish hair I’m suffering right now…

So, what do you think?

Yar!  Hopefully this quadruple espresso will kick me out of the blogging downfall I’ve been in the past month or two.  It’s been pretty hard to do anything let alone think, thanks to some family problems. I’ll get into it sometime or another… but not right now.

I did try to talk about it though…

Damn, I look crap in this video.

Now, let’s get onto something a lot more interesting.

19th Birthday

Yes! I’ve finally passed the terrible age of eighteen, and I’m able to see the future with crystal clarity. Ok, not exactly, but I had a great time.

I’ve been growing a little facial hair ever since my mother went into hospital a month ago. It was a symbol. I’d shave it off after I got my mother back and became herself again.  But by my birthday it was getting too annoying, and with the need for a haircut too I treated myself to a ‘Groom’s Special’ at The Player’s Lounge, Edinburgh.

It was a shave and a haircut, something I’ve never spent this much on… but I’ve been trying to get a straight shave ever since I watched Sweeny Todd.

The Player’s Lounge was amazing. While you wait they include a complimentary beer and let you read magazines and their PSP.  When they’re ready for you the treatment starts…  The shave lasts 45 minutes.  Since I had a full beard on at the time it took an entire hour, but I have to say it was the best shave I’ve ever had.  Steaming hot towels to soften the hairs, about 5 different types of facial scrubs and moisterisers even before she started to shave with the straight razor.

The haircut was very good too! I’m normally used to getting a barber who, while he can cut hair, doesn’t truly know how ones hair works.  I told my hairdresser (repeadly) about how thick my hair is.  ‘Real’ hairdressers have noticed, and she definitely did.  Thankfully, she did my hair perfectly… taking out all the extra volume and managing to make it really suit me!

Thanks player’s lounge!

The night was awesome too. I went out to Gulliano’s on the Shore and had some wonderful Italian food, followed by Wall-E (for the second time :D).  Everyone was super nice and got me everything I desired.  Money, Coffee, Espresso machines and computer games.  So, awesome.  Thank you everyone.  I’m still waiting for a super-awesome present from a super-awesome person (Corinne), but can’t wait to get it.

Survey

If you remember, about 2 weeks ago I asked you to take a survey so I can go forward.  Thanks for all who took part and I hope to implement a few of the requests.  Right now, I’m going to share them…

• 83% of you are happy with the blog as a whole.
• Only 17% of you visit the blog via an RSS reader.
• Everyone was either happy or not bothered that I made money off of this blog by displaying advertising.
• People wanted to read more (by popularity)…
• Things that happen in my life.
• Photography
• Stories and Ideas
• Videos
• Reviews
• Tutorials
• Documentaries on Socks
• Podcasts
• Some people want…
• “Boobs?” [Although this was anonymous... I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!]
• What are the things you like to do?  What about your family life? [So, actually talk about what the title seems to suggest. Ok.]
• Most people want new content 3+ times a week.  I might freak out some of you when I say there’s going to be new content every single day next month thanks to the fact I’m participating in NaBloPoMo [National Blog Posting Month].
• 82.3% would purchase limited edition prints so I could afford a over-the-atlantic trip.
• People want more…
• “Boobs”. [Scott... seriously... [it's in the pipes ;)]]
• Tutorials on web design, photography, etc.
• More pictures… (of the blogger)
• More topics that entertain a wider audience… e.g. “Try things out of our element and blog about them. What did you like or not about the experience?”.
• More lists.
• When asked if there was anything not discussed here that you’d like changed or discussed about… They said…
• “Boobs?” [*headdesk*]
• Talk about your friends more… aka…ME! (and you know who this is) [Yes, I do...]

So, back to normal from now on.  You’ll see a lot of things change (more than you’d think) in the next week so I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Now, before I leave you… one last word for the wise. DON’T EAT YELLOW SNOW!

Here’s a tip.

If you want to socialise more when you’re living in halls and you don’t know why people aren’t coming to talk to you–leave your door open. Seems to do the trick. Also, go and say hi. Oh, and I almost forgot–talk back. That also seems to work. However, screaming and starting for long periods of time doesn’t.

Other tidbits:-

• My sister just got unconditional placements at both Abertay University and Duncan & Jordanstone Art College. She definitely deserves it.
• I might be in Germany and the Netherlands during August. Anyone from there?
• It’s the first time in 2 months I’ve picked up my clarinet, and the first time in 7 years I’ve sung and it sounded relatively good compared to my choir days (back in primary before my voice broke).
• My Nabaztag is saying random things to me.
• I’ve finally realised what I’m doing wrong in one of my ventures and will be getting busy for the next month and a half and hopefully will be earning a bit of money if I’m lucky.
• I still find it very bad that prices for mobiles in the UK from Skype to be very expensive (14p per minute). Talking in conference for an hour with my sister and a friend in conference cost me almost £7!
• I can code an AI for Connect4 in under 4 hours–it works, but doesn’t mean it should.
• This semester is a waste of time.
• Loving the fact my work is digital as I had to pick up my sister’s portfolio today - all 9.2kg of it.
• It is impossible to have too much tech. In a universe with ever expanding volume an inherent mass of tech is irrelevant even if a room in which it’s being stored remains in constant volume. [1][2][3][4]

I was thinking the other day about stuff nobody knows about me. Some are just normal, some are personal and some are ones that I only realised that day.

• I had two eating disorders when I was younger.  I ate everything one portion at a time, depending on preference (worst first) and almost always finished the plate because I wanted the tastiest food.  Also, I had a problem with deciphering between hunger and thirst - meaning I’d normally eat either loads or drink too much.
• I procrastinate too much for my own good.
• I love to cook and I’m thinking of starting a student food video podcast.
• I didn’t know I was dyslexic until I was 12 - which was also the same time I started learning photography.
• I had a stutter.
• I could never play any sport - I just don’t have the hand-eye coordination for it.
• I remember too many random things like people’s addresses that I’ve only seen once, the location of a stapler I haven’t seen in months or my family’s entire DVD collection - but can’t remember to get the milk with the rest of my shopping.
• I can almost always tell which show someone is watching on TV just by the cinematography, setting and clothing in less than 5 seconds. I always freak my mother out when I do that.
• I know how to play the Clarinet - but only well enough to get through Grade 5.
• I could operate the video recorder when I was 1. I could stop, play and rewind the same tape over and over again as I was obsessed with adverts (My mum recorded an hour’s worth of adverts as it was the only thing that would stop me crying while she hoovered).