New Year's Resolution (work in progress)

In random order:

1. Reply to all emails within 24 hours. Or your money back.
2. Less thinking, more doing.
3. Learn 3 things about someone.
4. Compile a list of weaknesses; stop watching TV with subtitles; improve small talk;

Six Years Ago

Sitting in Mrs. Noble's AP English class, recommended by Greg.

Six years later, I either finish watching it, or I'm watching it again and I don't remember the second half.

Either way, it's magical.

Punch Drunk Love. ::le sigh::

Started watching Coffee and Cigarettes on Hulu, but couldn't really swallow the commercials and the small screen. The dialogue wasn't helping either. So I said, enough of this torture, I want something better.

Pull out the time machine and Punch Drunk Love inside the DVD player.

Afterwards, google Paul Thomas Anderson and realize that Annie had told me about him before. From There Will Be Blood. scroll some more and IMDB tells me that he wrote Coffee and Cigarettes. Is that the definition of irony?

I can't take this crappy movie, and the circumstances surrounding the experience, so I'll opt for your other movie that'll be added to my list of favorites.

I love how awkward he is throughout the movie. Maybe it's what I'm feeling right now. Maybe it's the piano on the desk. Or that I might actually try to collect pudding because of a marketing mistake.

I'd watch it again with the commentaries if it wasn't 2:59am. Better this way, I'll sleep with a smile on my face.

(image from here)

0:10 My thumbs hurt.

I've been on the computer all day. Literally. just sitting on top of my laptop.

had my two meals in between looking at html and css and playing with this and toying with that.

it's christmas day. but it doesn't really mean much. christmas eve is where the fun is.

the anticipation is what's exciting. having it never lives up to the expectations we build up for it.

thumbs still hurt. I need some form of mindless activity right now. sleep is on that list. but I don't really want to do that. 'cause I'll eventually get to it.

the thing I hate about doing things wrong is not knowing where the mistake was. so it'll get to a point of WTF happened? why isn't it working? and then I have to back-track. was it this? was it that?

no no. maybe it was, and I'll never know.

I'm probably just tired. that probability is at 100%.

on to searching for that mindless activity. goodbye, 2008. I'll see you in a few days and say bye formally. in a t-shirt tuxedo. 'cause we're homies like that. I've known you for almost a year now. almost.

Oh, Schnaz!

To all my graphic design and advertising buddies. I thought of you when I saw this. 'Cause it certainly feels true every now and then.

Merry Christmas!

(that's not me behind the board, it's some other self-depricating guy, maybe him)

Anxiety

That feeling you get right before the race. On your mark, get set

And it never arrives. Feels as if my body's ready to leap, but no one's pulling the trigger. Perpetual anticipation. Any moment now. Not yet. Almost. Don't blink. Hold. Breathe.

The Last Lecture

Haven't watched it yet. Will do. Soon. ish.

Overshare

Webster's word of the year. There's a way to sell your dictionary and increase brand awareness. Googling the list of runners up, there's a different list of winners. hmmm, why is there a discrepancy?

misinformation via: Random Culture

More Bacon!

Thanks to Max (via: xkcd.com)

A better way to meet girls.

Or just people in general. 'Cause girls are people, too.

It's called Livemocha. Found it yesterday. Joined today. will start practicing tonight. Bam, bam, bam.

I recant my post yesterday about Lymabean. 'Cause LiveMocha is definitely better. And tomorrow, I'll recant this post because I'll find a better social network.

It's a step up from Lymabean and Facebook because the community is around a specific set of goals. In this case, learning a language to meet, umm, people.

So that means there'll be a social network for everything we can think of. food. babies. law school students? political junkies. backpackers. music, but not just music as in last.fm, but musicians. the way myspace is without all the other crap.

we've arrived to the point were we can't please everyone, just pick someone and love 'em 'to death.

Layoffs during hard times

If you read all these articles in one sitting, it paints a pretty bleak picture. And sets a tone for how we should behave in the next year.

Or it could all be exaggerated. So for those of us without jobs, good luck. And for those of us that are already working, we'll pray for you, too.

Most of these were pulled off the front page of AdAge. Seems like they're covering the topic pretty extensively.
A quick overview of the massacre

AdScam Speculation about jobloss

More Slashing
Omnicom to slash 3,500 jobs

Advice for Recent Graduates

The Firer and the Firee

Your friend gets fired, now it's a bit awkward between you two

Mostly useless advice reminding you to go get 'em

After reading all that, you'd figure that people are jumping off buildings and setting their clothes on fire.

But maybe the take-away is to somehow seize this as an opportunity to stand out. I don't know how. If you figure something out, let me know.

(In other economic downturn news, Superbowl ads. I'm upset FedEx isn't spending millions to entertain me this year. I'm 5 years old and you just told me Santa isn't coming this Christmas. I'm inconsolable. read it and weep a quiet sob here.)

If Facebook was more graceful: Lymabean

Another social network site. what Facebook could be. what myspace could've been.

localized ads seems to be more relevant and makes a lot more sense. though I'm skeptical of the part where he claims that you can read the businesses profile but they can't see yours, right.

and who's going to become a fan of the local plumber?

is the plumber even going to know how to promote himself on the network?

seems like it's restricted to only bars, restaurants, and social places. starbucks? how does that fit in?

Lymabean

via: Mashable

Snowflake up my nose

Snow is naturally romantic, because it drifts in slow motion. A gleeming white backdrop to your life.

'Tis a photo I took right after lunch in Chinatown.

It's nasty afterwards. The slush.

So enjoy it as it's floating down.

2:08am How to Read

wanted to find out what the best reading conditions were. 'cause I was at the public library today (Barnes & Nobles) and my eyes got tired.

is BN aware of this? do they optimize their lights, chairs, tables to maximize tired eyes? what about the typesetting in books? what's the optimal condition to read a book?

because once I go blind, I can't enjoy the flood of information any more.

googled "ideal reading conditions" and variations of that phrase with synonyms.

ended up on a post about How to Read

Just as useful, but not exactly what I wanted. and I haven't really thought about how I read. what am I doing when I read?

this is what we used to do when writing book reports back in school. but we no longer do that. it's not fun. and we read for pleasure, not to force ourselves to learn.

so I've tried to take notes sometimes, and maybe I should just start highlighting things. so I can go back, and read and report them. so maybe instead of trying to read 50 books a year. I'll do only 25, with book reports. maybe even 12, and really know what I'm talking about.

sucks that I'm halfway through 3 books. so I'll start doing that with the next books. but the highlighting will start today.

Mac vs PC

I still laugh when I see this. Why is that? I know the punchline. I know when it's coming. But I still smile when he swipes across the table.

oh you.

Names

The importance of them.

And how one name can rebrand all other ones. You hear a name and the standard has been set already by someone else you know by that name.

The obvious example being Hitler. Hi, my name is "Hitler." oh. as in...? yeah. but not as infamous. or just as infamous, however you look at it.

There are people in our lives that do this. Everyone name-parks. Some have to live up to the image others have set.

'Tis life.

Simpsons on Apple

Mapple - The Simpsons
by aarplane

Kind of funny, but not absolutely new observations. I did like the homage to the 1984 spot, though.

Via Jeff Staples

Sensory Overload

Maybe I should just lock myself inside a room with internet access and read everything 'til I'm blind.

Then I'll have to force myself to live a different life where I can't want to absorb information any more.

Damn you, Internet!

Let this be the day I officially mark my love/hate/love relationship with you, Internet.

There. I said it.

This is why:

I receive an email from a friend about a lecture by Big Spaceship, then;

I Google "Big Spaceship," then;

I click on the CEO's blog, then;

I click on the place his blog is hosted, now;

I have another blog to check out and distract myself with.

This is the new blog service: Posterous

Thank you, Internet.

Debbie's Guide To My Own Personal Happiness

no bragging to increase my own sense of worthyness.

makeup makes you feel prettier until you have to take it off, same with clothes. how you feel about yourself can't be repaired by how you look.

pride vs. hubris. know the difference.

assume change won't kill you.

money in the bank won't give you courage. courage begets courage.

freedom is knowing what you want to lose.

people need a lot of water.

being right is not as important as knowing when you're wrong.

when you don't know what to say. shut up.


from August 2005. But still true.