foreword

Get to work! Stop procrastinating! Stop messing around and do some work! Stop being lazy! Print your notes before lecture! Do something about the stuff you keep saying you want to do! Forget other people, it’s just an excuse!

… Just a little Sunday self-nag. I do feel better now that I’ve sat down and completed something today.

I do need to do something about eating too much, though. I haven’t heard my stomach growl for 2 months now. That’s not very nice and I kinda miss it now. Feeling full makes me a bit sick nowadays.

I also miss the scurrying from the kitchen dustbin whenever I walk in to grab a glass of water at night :( :( :( guilt-ridden. This is a lot worse then running onto snails.

Mmmm Durian.

I think I just made the resident Fat Lizard Who Lives Behind My Microwave Oven commit suicide and I am now overwhelmed with guilt and remorse. He’s gonna haunt me in my dreams :(

Dear Altec Lansing,

When I bought your ATP3 2.1 computer speaker model as an upgrade from some crappy 2.0 speakers that came with my then-PC I felt bliss – not only was I now able to blast my speakers when it was raining (which I absolutely love and my mom absolutely hates), it didn’t start to distort and feel as if they might explode at any time. It was clear, and it had just the right frequency response for me. It bordered on perfect.

Then I blew it up when I tried playing distorted guitar on them – a really dumb thing on my part, I admit.

So began my quest for the next pair of perfect Altec Lansing speakers – I’ve bought Sonic Gear and Creative speakers for friends and they just never seemed to sound satisfactory, and from experience I was pretty much loyal to your brand. The IT fair arrived and I quickly snagged up one of your newer models that looked so similar to my previous pair – I was really excited about going home and trying them out.

My verdict? Altec Lansing VS4121: most likely designed when the engineer was high on something. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not crappy or anything. They can sound perfect – but only when they’re hovering in mid air. I’m not gonna go into the technical stuff, basically when placed on the table the 500Hz range are so boosted the sound pretty much borders on unlistenable.

Sold it at a loss. Was so traumatized I think I went about half a year without speakers. Painful.

Learnt my lesson, decided if I wanted to buy speakers I was happy with I needed to test them in a quieter environment (compared to the fair). Today I went down to Stereo Electronics (which is an awesome shop that lets you try every pair of earphones that they sell) and painstakingly tested every pair of Altec Lansing speakers that they stocked. Finally settled on a UFO-looking pair, got excited again and went home.

Verdict? The Altec Lansing FX3021 expressionist PLUS model: Sounds great…… but who builds a subwoofer with loose parts that vibrate and make noise when music is playing?!?!?? The wires are also more flimsy, and sometimes far too short. I had to dig up an old cable to connect my computer to the sub.

So Altec Lansing, I don’t know what happened to you and I don’t really care anymore – I’m bycotting you after this pair of speakers. Never again will you have your wares on my table. And floor.

atee

… gives you peanut butter – Homemade!

I cannot begin to tell you for how long I’ve been wanting to do this. I love peanut butter, I love its savoury goodness and awesome texture, not to mention the health benefits. The thing is, when you buy peanut butter, peanut butter isn’t really the only thing you get:

INGREDIENTS: Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Rapeseed Oil and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil) to Prevent Separation, Salt.

What’s in homemade peanut butter then?

Roasted Peanuts. Salt to taste, and peanut oil as an emulsifier if you don’t like your peanut butter to separate – and you get to add these at a healthy pace.

Now I can eat my peanut butter from the spoon with no guilt. Mmmmm.

Morning, everything a mumble. Wind in hair, slight headache dimming in quiet admonition. Salt trails left by the plane and my glass of green tea from yesterday. Sun receives you in a warm embrace but does not burn;
no one’s rushing today.

I’d sleep early to wake up to this every Sunday. Even if it’s not Sunny.

I don’t need your bad mood thanks.

I was intending to go out and grab a latte from the nearby Starbucks about a half hour ago, but I’m still here.

Why?

Soy is bad for you and milk is bad for you, and I really can’t stomach coffee without any form of milk.

So I’m definitely getting my latte, but the problem is I’m trying to find out which is the better choice of the two.

I don’t think they offer goat’s milk.

Edit: I think I’ve found the answer. Off to get my drink!

al·co·hol (āl’kə-hôl’, -hŏl’)
n.

1.A colorless volatile flammable liquid, C2H5OH, synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs, cleaning solutions, explosives, and intoxicating beverages. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol.

2.Well-known cause of weight gain, empty wallets, belly bulge, stupid (sometimes amusing) actions, allergies, stamina loss, recurring fatigue, eyebags, shitty morning-afters and many other unpleasant experiences.

3.We still drink it anyway.

I’m wondering if I should wrap the new book I’m reading (Audrey Niffenegger!!), but I want to be able to run my fingers through the matt surface while opening it every so slightly so as not to bend the binding too much, or if I should have another bite of the pound cake that I made because I needed to finish up the extra whipping cream that we had, but the cake tastes pretty eggy I think I didn’t mix the batter properly because I was baking it for the sake of baking it (okay so I did go and get a bite of it even though it tastes eggy) and it’s started to rain suddenly even though the sky is still so bright and not completely covered by the clouds and I feel refreshed – and bruised – today, pondering if I should nurse the bump on my face with a hard boiled egg or leave it as it is, and doubting my sanity since such odd events would make me refreshed, but I really have never fallen down like that before and it’s refreshing! and cleared my mind somehow, but my tummy feels weird and the eggy aftertaste is still in my mouth. Bleah.