Insidecy


Video Blog Deux!
January 13, 2007, 7:16 am
Filed under: Blog

Here it is… Episode II of my video-blog (VLOG)! Emjoy.



Restless at 1:27am.
January 12, 2007, 9:27 am
Filed under: Thoughts

As I sit here, enjoying the wonderful flavors of my Jack-in-the-Box faux-taco, I’m thinking. Every once in a while, I think out loud here on my blog in totally abstract, vague, and nonsensical blabber. It’s quite a treat if you get to read them. They’re normally somewhat depressing yet with a dash of hope in them. I suppose tonight wouldn’t be any different.

I mean here I am with a post title that is already dark in itself. ‘Restless’ signifying that I can’t sleep and that obviously something is troubling me. Also, being 1:30 in the morning means that tomorrow’s not going to be all that great at work.

So let’s get to the heart of the matter. This week I’ve been deep in thought. I guess the new year always does this to me. It’s a time to re-evaluate what’s important in life and what takes precedent.

Last year what was important to me was so clear, yet I didn’t do all too much to show it or really give it the significance that I claimed to put on it. My actions certainly proved otherwise. Such is life, maybe?

It seems every quarter of the year, the same progression takes over. At the first part of the quarter, you’re really on track with life. Things are going right, but as you near the end of it, you’re down in the pits and things are just wrong. Then something significant happens in life that sets you straight and puts you where you should be. You shoot back up and you’re a-ok again. Then same thing… a couple weeks later, you’ve lost your way once more. The law of undulation is what they call it. Can we ever just keep getting better? Or at least just plateau for a while? Because the whole crashing and burning thing is really getting old every several months.

Here’s the thing. I know the goals I have in life. I know what the end picture is… at least what I want it to look like. Yet it seems that I voluntarily choose every possible avenue to screw it up. It’s like for a temporary moment (sometimes, not all that temporary), I put that picture down, or I blur my vision of it and I get caught up with the here and now. Granted, people say to live in the moment and to live as each if day was your last, but there is still something to be said about goals and dreams.

It’s weird. Do you ever feel like you live in spite of your own self? That’s what it seems I do to myself sometimes. They say you are your own worse enemy and looking back at my life in retrospect, that saying rings with so much truth.

If you guys couldn’t tell, I’m in my ‘downs’ right now. When did life get so complicated? When did failure and disappointment become something so tangible? Sure there are several hidden gems of pure joy here and there, but the overall state of things seems to overshadow that.

I had a great talk with one of my best friends tonight and I think that is what has made me restless tonight. Being forced to bring what’s been troubling me to the forefront of my mind, rather than compartmentalize it and let it fester, seems to be just what I needed.

And there was the little pinch of hope in an overall sad post.

I’m hoping the ‘ups’ come along soon.

Cy



My mind… is blown.
January 10, 2007, 7:59 am
Filed under: Apple, Music, Technology

Yesterday at the MacWorld Expo 2007 in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced something absolutely ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean it is probably the best thing since sliced bread.

A couple months ago, I watched this concept video for iTalk, a fan’s rendition of what he envisioned an Apple produced cell phone to be. Check out the clip:

*By the way, the name of the song in this faux advertisement is “In the Waiting Line” by English electronica band Zero 7. Their stuff is downtempo and really chill. I love sleeping to it.*

I knew then that if the real deal was anything like that, it’d be totally awesome… And well today, I found out about the actual real deal

Coming this June is the new iPhone. Can Apple seriously bring us anything cooler than this? It’s a widescreen iPod, an incredibly user-friendly cell phone, and a mini-internet device all rolled into one small, fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand product.


I watched the entire keynote that Steve Jobs gave yesterday online and my brains are completely splattered along the back of my wall. That is how mind-blowing this new technology is.

Apple has been working hand-in-hand with top companies Cingular, Google, and Yahoo! to bring us this incredible new innovation. The new iPhone is going to be available exclusively with Cingular. I just switched my service provider over from T-Mobile to Cingular today actually before even knowing about this. I’m so glad I did, because once June comes around, this baby is MINE.

Here’s a montage of the clips found from the apple site that someone put together up on Google Video.

Steve Jobs is truly a visionary for those of us growing up in this technology/information age. I can’t wait to see what he and the rest of the Apple crew come up with. This is the stuff that changes the world as we know it! He mentioned a quote in his keynote that I really liked:

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
-Wayne Gretzky

That’s our generation right there… coming up with new and exciting stuff. It’s fun.

Do some more diggin’ on your own:
Apple’s iPhone Page
http://www.apple.com/iphone

Steve Jobs’ Keynote for MacWorld 2007
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/keynote/

TIME Magazine Article
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1575410,00.html

Engadget (with pictures from Jobs’ keynote)
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the-apple-iphone/

More Engadget pictures of the iPhone
http://www.engadget.com/photos/first-iphone-pics/



Freaking Kent.
January 6, 2007, 7:21 am
Filed under: Games

I was getting all ready to spell out in detail what I’ve doing the last two months, but I’ve got a headache and I’m kinda tired, so I’ll save it for the weekend at some point…

Tonight I had some friends over for Bibletalk (where you talk about the Bible. Complicated, eh?) and afterwards we played one of my favorite games, Kent.

What is Kent?

Kent is a card game played with 2-4 teams of two with each team sitting across from each other. Each player is dealt four cards and just like Spoons (right, Heather?), you want to collect 4 of a kind. However, that’s the only similarity Kent has to Spoons. The dealer will lay out the top four cards of the deck face up and all players are allowed to lay down a card from their hand and pick one up on the table as much as they want. After some time has passed where no one picks up the cards, the dealer scoops up the cards and lays out four more. This is repeated until someone gets four of a kind.

Now why are there partners in this game? Well to win the round, you must be able to guess when your partner has four of a kind or vice versa without the other teams knowing. This is done through subtle hints or signs that the team comes up with in secret from the other teams. If you see your partner doing the sign, you call out “Kent”. If you were right, your team scores a point. If you’re wrong, you lose a point. Subtletly is the key here because if another team believes you have obtained four of the same card, they can call “Ace”. If they’ve caught you, you lose a point and they gain one. However, if they’re wrong, they lose a point and you gain one.

I like to play the game with poker chips so everyone gets a visual for how well the teams are doing. You can either play to a number of points or til a team gets all the other teams’ chips.

I went to a party for New Year’s Eve and we played Kent for most of the evening. It’s great fun. Hope you enjoy it.



So this is… awkward…?
January 5, 2007, 6:55 am
Filed under: Blog

YouTube has a pretty cool feature on it now… You can record video off your webcam straight to their site!

And this is the result… Hope it’s not as strange for you as it was for me…

Without further adieu, VLOG I…

(WARNING: It’s boring. But if you’re here, I assume you’re already bored.)

Fun, right? *insert awkward laugh*

In other news, Imogen Heap has an amazing voice and is insanely talented. Check out this song from her former band Frou Frou on the Garden State soundtrack:

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Cy