Wednesday, May 23, 2007

And Doom Did Come

Just got the PC back from the repairmen over at Sta. Lucia. Turns out that some files in the HD were corrupted, so they had to reformat it and reinstall Windows to make it useful again, which meant removing my last two or so years worth of computer files down into the technological void.

At least tangible objects could always be retrieved from the trash, no matter how beat-up or rotted away they look. These streams of ones and zeroes are a different story altogether:

Thea 107 publicity pictures and poster designs? Gone.

Papers from my writing classes? Gone.

Unfinished short stories that were supposed to be Pantas material? Gone.

Two or so years worth of downloaded music? Gone.

Diablo 2 level eighty-something Whirlwind Barbarian, Warcraft 3 DotA maps, Guilty Gear XX #Reload and Guilty Gear Isuka save files? Gone.

Back at Sta. Lucia I was doing all shorts of shit to calm my shocked nerves. Lots of food, PS2, toy shopping, clothes shopping, hanging around at the old card shop, thinking of getting a new computer, etc. Thankfully, coffee did the trick.

Maybe this is bad karma due to the previous post. If so, why oh why does life have to be so ironic?

"Clean slate," my parents say. Easy for them to do so, they just backed their projects up a few days ago.

"Wake up call," my self tries to tell myself. Maybe fate is indeed telling me to go write on paper more often, to go find myself a real copy of Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" and Schopenhauer's "Counsels and Maxims", and to go ahead and buy those Up Dharma Down, Urbandub and Linkin Park CDs.

Still, I'm still trying very hard to stop myself from crying right now. Anybody who thinks I'm simply being sarcastic will be blinded by the salt of my tears.

posted by Ocnarf @ 4:54 AM   4 have spoken

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Time Check

"I'm gonna sing the Doom Song now!" -Gir

We're several months away from possibly being eaten by a CERN-manufactured black hole, a year away from an economic depression caused by a worldwide shortage of oil, three years away from being devoured by synthetic nanotechnology, twenty-three years away from a quantum vacuum collapse and several hundred years away from human extinction.

So sayeth the doom-prophets of the Internet.

At least we're 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years away from the next Big Bang, which will only happen after the universe has collapsed itself enough, which will take about 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 years to happen.

Whee lotsa zeroes googol-sized LOL

posted by Ocnarf @ 12:12 PM   3 have spoken

Friday, May 18, 2007

Strip Blogging (Not That, You Dirty, Dirty Mind)

Strangers

Created by yours truly using the Strip Generator blog.

I've always wanted a new blogging medium. This is just so cool.

posted by Ocnarf @ 12:22 AM   5 have spoken

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Why Douglas Adams Is One of My Favorite Writers

Dirk: "... In the past, people would stare into the fire for hours when they wanted to think. Or stare at the sea.The endless dancing shapes and patterns would reach far deeper into our minds than we could manage by reason and logic. You see, logic can only proceed from the premises and assumptions we already make, so we just drive round and round in little circles like little clockwork cars.We need dancing shapes to lift us and carry us, but they're harder to find these days. You can't stare into a radiator. You can't stare into the sea. Well, you can, but it's covered with plastic bottles and used condoms, so you just sit there getting cross.All we have to stare into is the white noise. The stuff we sometimes call information, but which is really just a bubble rising in the air."

Kate: "But without logic..."

Dirk: "Logic comes afterwards. It's how we retrace our steps. It's being wise after the event. Before the event you have to be very silly."

-The Salmon of Doubt (by Douglas Adams, of course)

This from a detective Dirk Gently who's trying to explain to his friend how immersing himself into a random sequence of events solves one of his cases, not to mention doing it as objectively as he can.

Now that is what I call writing.

Too bad Mr. Adams died before he was able to finish this book.

Now that is what I call tragedy.

Oh well, only ten more days until Towel Day comes around.

Towel Day :: A tribute to Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

posted by Ocnarf @ 5:33 PM   3 have spoken

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Ecstasy and Emo Bashing... Are Not Connected

There's nothing like hanging on for dear life on a public jeepney's rear end as it cruises down Marcos Highway at top speed and swerves the way a bad Need For Speed player would.

While drunk.

Hey, the alcohol almost made it feel like a roller coaster, only ( and weirdly and thankfully, might I add) without the nausea.

...

"... every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."
-James Barrie, Peter Pan

"... every time a child says, 'I don't believe in emos,' there is an emo somewhere that falls down dead...

... not that anybody cares, of course."

-Ocnarf, feeling all anti-emo tonight

posted by Ocnarf @ 1:17 AM   7 have spoken

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Insomniac's Ironic Meditations

The darkness of early ante meridiem permeates the walls of my room as I engage in practicing for the quiet. Outside, there are only leaf-rustles and distant dogfights to punctuate the calm, but inside the frantic splashing of a thousand thoughts swimming in the stream of consciousness is enough to keep me from dancing with Somnos. I divert myself into un-gasping breaths: inhaling enough for a pearl hunter's morning dive, yet releasing the air before the thought of so selfishly holding it in has occurred in one long lung-purge. Feel the prana that accumulates in your breath, up your nostrils, into your mouth, diffusing into your blood to drive the negative energies of the psychical tormentors away. Repeat for every swimmer in the stream, until the waters flow freely through the fissura longitudinalis cerebri once again. But the forsaken thoughts have exacted revenge on me by the time my catharsis is complete. Inside, there is only the calming flow of a clear stream, but outside the dawn arrives, ushered in by heraldic cockerels and prophetic tailpipe monoxides.

Silence is only relative to the faintest sound in one's ear.

posted by Ocnarf @ 1:16 AM   0 have spoken

Monday, May 07, 2007

On T-Rexes and Smart Teenagers

(Rant-y sounding paragraphs = Links)

First, the T-Rexes...

Somebody's trying to put science and religion into one big mishmash. Again. Somebody's stirring up controversy. Again. Somebody's gonna get into trouble for spending a huge amount of money ($25 million, to be exact). Again. Somebody quoted the Bible for (what I believe, at least) an almost purely objective conundrum. Again. I've put too many one-word sentences into this paragraph. Again.

Now, the smart teenagers...

To think all this was written by someone who I'm guessing was/is a "smart kid" during his time. Currently wondering what my fellow Communication Arts majors have to say about this.

Articles courtesy of scientificblogging.com. I love this site.

posted by Ocnarf @ 10:55 PM   7 have spoken

Friday, May 04, 2007

"Colored" "Fruit"

Drinking is actually healthy. Way cool.
Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
Only I was disturbed by what the term "colored fruit" was supposed to mean. So disturbed, in fact that I had to ask my mom who's a horticulturist in her spare time if black and white fruits existed. And when there were none, so disturbed that I thought of spoofing this poem, whose title I honestly don't know until now.

A black "man" talks to a white "man":
When I was born I was black,
When I grew up I was black,
When I'm sick I'm black,
When I go in the sun I'm black,
When I'm cold, I'm, black,
When I'm scared, I'm black,
When I'm sick, I'm black,
When I die I'll still be black.

But you: When you're born you're pink, like his "raspberries,"
When you grow up you're white, like the inside of his "pear,"
When you're sick, you're green, like his "limes,"
When you go in the sun you turn red, like his "cherries,"
When you're cold you turn blue, like his "berries,"
When you're scared, you're yellow, like his "banana,"
When you're bruised, you're purple, like his "grapes,"
and when you die you turn grey, like the mold on his "papaya."
And you have the nerve to call me colored, "fruit".

Remember: Racism is evil. So is gay-bashing.

posted by Ocnarf @ 9:10 AM   6 have spoken

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Pulubi

Prostrate into the sidewalk's embrace
Ulcered, dehydrated and disillusioned
Lungs and closed eyes soot-stained from progress
Unknown the thousands of walking apathies
But now, my only wish: Guess
If I am sleeping, or if I am dead?

posted by Ocnarf @ 11:25 PM   2 have spoken

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Because I R Teh Bored

Ate Kel has a point, maybe boredom really is a catalyst for creativity.

Or maybe it's because frankly, the "Pichay, Itanim sa Senado!" pun is starting to get on my nerves...


plus


equals


Si Chiz naman. Haha.

<3 Photoshop.

To everyone, a Happy Labor Day. I hope.

posted by Ocnarf @ 4:40 PM   3 have spoken