A is for Apple

Posted on September 13, 2008 by borysSNORC

There was an “A” for the letter meme that was going about a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t answered it because I’ve been having trouble thinking of things that start with “A” that I like?!?!

List of 10 Things I Like That Start With “A”….

1. Angel – Obviously… he’s my favourite little person on the planet.
2. Antibiotics – living in the 20th/21st centuries is a good thing.
3. Aibohphobia – appeals to my absurd sesquipedalian sense of humour 😛
4. Avocados – especially when mushed into guacamole
5. Amsterdam – canals, coffee shops, museums, red lights
6. Au – favourite element on the periodic table.
7. Asterias rubens – also known as the common starfish.
8. Ahmets – local Turkish restaurants.
9. Antidisestablishmentarianism – not the movement just the word 😀
10. Alcohol – in moderation of course.

That was harder than I thought it should be. Much easier was a 10 Things I Hate or Dislike That Start With “A” List

1. ATO – (Australian Tax Office) No brainer that one.
2. Ambiguity – call a spade a spade and we’ll get along famously.
3. Alligators – not that we have any in Australia but they’re ugly
4. Astrology – taking money from the niaive since 3000BC
5. Algebra – didn’t get it then, don’t get it now.
6. Aliens – not in books, not in movies, not on tv – it’s all crap.
7. Adam Sandler – just sat through that Zohan nonsense.
8. Amber – as a gemstone it is a bit of a blah.
9. Aussie Ockerisms – we aren’t all inarticulate wankers.
10. Assholes – one of a limitless number of ‘other’ human beings with whom we are forced to share space on this planet who may find themselves categorized thus for one or many infringements (large or small, real or imagined) against our persons.
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“All hail yale! Resurrector of the Dead Memory Card and Recoverer of the Lost Photos of Istanbul!”

Posted on September 11, 2008 by borysSNORC

A long long time ago (Okay not so long, last year when I was holidaying in Turkey) I wrote the following despondent words…

Alas!!! A disaster has befallen our heroes!!! I went to pull out my camera yesterday and was greated by the ominous text … Memory Card Failure !!! Nooooooo! How could this be? I haven’t done anything to you, you little traitorous memory card, you! How could you fail me now??? And with 200 odd of my photos on it??? If I sound like I’m crying I really, really am! I need new shoo-hew-hews!!!

🙁 Grrr fucking memory card death. 🙁

The bitter disappointment of the dead memory card or the unbackedup file is one of those inherently modern emotions. We might liken it with an Edwardian lady who loses a treasured lock of hair bestowed upon her by a gentleman come a courting or perhaps even with a man who loses his wedding ring whilst out surfing or something. The abject feelings of loss whilst keen in both these circumstances are also tinged with a little bit of personal responsibility – If only I had secured that his lock of hair in my locket…. if only I had remembered to take off my ring before I went surfing. That sort of thing.

But the loss of a document due to a computer mysteriously crashing? Or the sudden death of a memory card? Why it’s a betrayal of monumental proportions! "You! You heinous piece of technology You! You have let me down!!! I did trust you with my important spreadsheet and did believe that you would faithfully record and save safe for me all my precious photographic memories!" Oh the agonizing betrayal of it all! Betrayal… heavily lined with indignation – "You’re not supposed to do that…. You mutterfuckingmutterfucking stupid thing!"

Sigh.

Having lived through and somehow survived the despair of the Spontaneous Memory Card Death I can not describe the elation… nay the ecstacy!… of today having my photos restored to me by the Small Computer God (okay at 6’9" he’s not really a ‘small’ anything… but it sounds good) that is yaleman! All hail Yale!

Dr Nick.. your copy will be in the mail asap 😉
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Hung but not drawn and quartered…. thankfully.

Posted on September 10, 2008 by borysSNORC

I came back from my trip to Pakistan in July last year and while I was there I bought a lovely Esfahan rug from central Iran…. which has been living ever since rolled up on the floor in my bedroom because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to hang it and I definitely didn’t want to sew a strip on it or anything that would cause damage to it.

So a couple of weeks ago I took it to a rug dealer in Brisbane called Urban Tribes and thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and have them do an insurance valuation and sew a strip on it for me to allow it to be hung up. It was probably a pretty good sign that it was a nice rug when the staff all came out and started oohing and aahhing over it 🙂 The valuation came back with a nice surprise it is apparently valued at more than twice what I paid for it which is kinda cool. You always get a little bit worried that you might get ripped off when shopping overseas. Well I worry about it… especially in shopping environments that require bartering. I hate bartering and would much prefer if they’d just give a fair price so I can decide if I want it or if can afford it. Can’t stand the stuffing around and the time wasted going back and forth. (Mr K is the exact opposite and I remember him arguing hard with some ladies in Indonesia over about 50c when I was buying sarongs!)

I picked up my rug last week and now it’s finally hanging on my wall and I must say it looks even better than I remember when I first bought it. I can’t believe how well the colours in it go with my house – it’s like it was made for the place all burgundy, navy and gold/mustardy colours. Normally you should do it the other way around – choose the rug (or artwork) and build up the decor around it, but I must have just gotten lucky I guess.

See abeekay ? I’m trying hard to look for positives already … though admittedly they are ones from 15mths ago! 🙂
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I read a book… and even remember some of it.

Posted on September 9, 2008 by borysSNORC

I think this is largely due to the fact that I’ve had to lay off the Valium since Friday. Nothing quite kills the concentration like a not so healthy nightly dose of sedatives. i’ve been reading through a series of books that are set out of in nice neat self contained sections. So if I don’t remember what I read yesterday it doesn’t matter so much. The books in question are about etymology, superstitions, origins of everyday inventions and common English phrases. I love these sorts of books that are full of seemingly useless trivia. I like to know how the strange phrases we use every day came into common usage. I think that sort of thing is interesting… I might be alone in that but- meh.

So since Friday with my new found concentration and superior memory I’ve been readaing "Bad Girls and Wicked Women: The Most Powerful, Shocking, Amazing, Thrilling and Dangerous Women of All Time" (available from the ABC shop in Oz). What a great read! Some of the women depicted in this book are horrific but at the same time they are fantastic. So many of them have overcome abject poverty and unbelievably heinous abuse in their childhoods and early years to become strong, fierce and some of them terrifying, women. Admittedly many of them tended to wield their power to avenge themselves on those that wronged them in their early years and yes, some of them also acquired a sociopathic indifference to the suffering they inflicted on others. But what a thrilling and at the same time appalling read… it’s like watching a literary train wreck and you can’t bring yourself to look away. Loved it.

Still at home… feeling like shit.

Posted on September 8, 2008 by borysSNORC

I’ve been bored today sitting at home feeling miserable and bloated and sore. I would do some shopping on the internets but am getting a bit wary after a book I purchased through an Amazon Marketplace seller about six weeks ago has failed to show up. That and a handbag I purchased through Nieman Marcus in the States turned up on 22nd August in mouldy damaged packaging and was wet and smelling of mould itself and I’ve been engaged in an ongoing increasingly vitriolic battle to have it replaced ever since. So no internet shopping for me.

Instead I’ve been amusing myself by adding stuff to my sister’s eBay watch list again 🙂 Well… she would go and let the browser remember her password!