Thursday 28 June 2012

When is a mistake well-made?

The thing with Artemis Fowl books is that they lack somewhat in the heft department. And why would any kids' book series be otherwise? Oh well. I supposed I should go looking for something else to read. Too bad I can't seem to find any Gaiman.



Rediscovering old favourites can be a fun thing. Looking for some change in the general background score scene in life, I went looking for inspiration in the rather more dusty parts of my archive. (Metaphorically. Although who knows how much dust actually gathers inside terabyte sized hard-disks over the years.)
I've acquired quite a taste
For a well-made mistake,
I wanna
Make a mistake, why can't I make a mistake?
I'm always doing what I think I should
Almost always doing everybody good
Why?!
Genius huh? :) But that's Fiona Apple for you. Now why exactly had I skipped on this for so long? Hmm. I supposed it's more than a merely rhetorical question, but I'm not going to bother with trying to find my way down that alley.


Instead, I wonder what are the chances of Germany and Italy shooting each other to death in the upcoming Euro semi-final? I managed to stay up last night all the way till that last nail went in the Portuguese coffin. It was worth the late night, if only for the look on Cristiano's face at the end :D. Viva la España! I hope they batter to a pulp whichever team they face, if not with goals then at least with their maddeningly frustrating passing game :).

Feeling: vengeful
Listening to: Fiona Apple - A mistake

Friday 15 June 2012

Songs and stories from forgotten yesterdays

By all counts, this has been an entertaining week :). Nonetheless, I spent large parts of it cursing the oppressive weather, and at least some little time worrying if my passport had in fact managed to find its way into the Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi. At least on the latter issue, my mind is now at rest.



The primary source of entertainment has been, not surprisingly, Bryson! A Short History of Nearly Everything is by no means a short book. But what is bewildering is exactly how much he manages to stuff into it without making it 5 times longer! You almost feel a sense of awe and some achievement just making it to the end and better still, if you can actually remember some part of how the story winds itself through the aeons of known (and often quite frankly, mostly unknown) history of our world.

I do wish I'd known sooner that one of Charles Darwin's seminal works was on barnacles. Darwin is quoted as having said,
I hate a barnacle as no man ever did before.
Who knew right? Now anyone who's ever been on a seismic boat working off Australia's North West Shelf, or offshore Angola, or (I am told) offshore Brazil, can comfort themselves that they are in exalted company when they inevitably feel the above sentiment :D.



All in all the whole thing makes one feel rather small. Not altogether unlike that feeling you get when you venture out on open deck on a dark cloudless night in the middle of the ocean and stare up at the starry sky.



Then there was Sixpence. I stumbled upon the news quite suddenly, that they'd re-united and that an album's on the way. The fact of course, is that the album has been on its way a long time, and there's still no proper release date. Still! I thought back, and was quite alarmed when I realized that their last proper release, Divine Discontent, had come out a decade ago!
I miss the warmth
And I miss the sun
I miss the ocean
I miss everyone
And I miss the bridges
That span across the bay
Tonight, it seems like ages ago
I don't think I'd even listened to them in years. And old songs have such a way of bringing back old memories, haven't they? I suppose there's also the fact that you're so much more likely to stumble across an old song out of the blue than an old photo.


In the middle of all this, there was that particular morning when I got woken up by a phone call. It is a decidedly unusual thing, for, even though I habitually sleep in while at home (and why shouldn't I? :P) everyone who could call me, knows that. So imagine my surprise when the caller opens with, "Oi! I'm getting married tomorrow, can you show up?!"

It didn't help that for some reason I was under the impression that said friend had already gotten married a month earlier, while I was at sea! In the end it all worked out great, 'cos I finally made it to a friend's wedding after missing them by the dozens these last couple of years :).



So yes, it has been a good week. Now, will it be too much to ask for some news on that visa sometime this coming week? We shall see. In the mean time, I managed to unearth a couple of more Artemis Fowl books from the book store under the escalator, so that should keep me happily occupied.

Currently: dreaming of snow
Listening to: Sixpence None the Richer - A million parachutes

Saturday 9 June 2012

Fleeting images

Let's just say that I'm really glad I'm back home. Despite the hot, sticky, stifling weather. Although I'm being told that this is nothing compared to what it was like a week ago. So really, I'm quite glad I'm back :).


It was pretty touch and go in the end. Almost a repeat of that last crew change off the Trident. But we did make it. I ended up back on Malaysian soil after a long time. The only thing I do remember about Miri though, is that it was a lot bigger and brighter than I expected. But after 3 weeks in Singapore, this really didn't compare :).


KLIA looked much the same. I suppose the shops might have changed a little in six years, but not much else. I think I quite liked that.


Having not read one bit since the previous crew change, I decided to give The Rest of the Robots another shot. The page mark said I'd read a fair bit. My mind simply chose to disagree completely. So I started over. The introduction is quite entertaining anyway. I for one didn't know that Percy Bysshe's wife wrote Frankenstein!


I resented the running commentary a little. I really don't want to know what went behind the writing of the stories. I want to make that up myself! Still, Asimov is Asimov. But now that I'm done with that, I can finally get to A Short History of Nearly Everything.


The next week or so should be interesting. In quite possibly an unfortunate manner, seeing my general relationship with visas. But at least I should get to stay home a fair bit longer than the 5 days I originally had :).

Currently: sweating profusely :-<
Listening to: Mazzy Star - Into dust

Monday 4 June 2012

A rush of blood to the head

I had this whole thing worked out in my head. Well, sort of. It was mostly just a 'My God does this really have to be this hard?' sort of thing. But hey, it's one and a wake-up. Unless of course the weather decides otherwise.

Yeah, haven't quite been my cheery self lately. Well, except in a slightly manic sort of way, when things begin to go just a little too far to the wrong side of sane.

But I figure, what the hell, one way or another this is going to be over soon enough. Just wasn't expecting this sort of an ending to my time on here.

Currently: trying to stay awake long enough to pack everything!
Listening to: Groove Armada - Hands of time