Screamfestindo 2007 - Tickets

Yup. Bought the membership for Screamfestindo 2007. After mulling about for about half an hour with the schedule, i had decided to bought five tickets instead of my initially planned ten. Four of the tickets were for films screened on Saturday, December the 1st which require me to be at the theater from noon until shy of midnight. The other ticket is for Sunday, actually more of an obligatory ticket because i had to choose five tickets for the price i had paid.

I bought the tickets for the following movies:

The Girl Next Door. Based on a book which in turns based on a true event about a young girl who went into her aunt after she had lost her parents. There, she was treated unkindly, and what i had meant with unkindly was to the point that the film garnered a negative reviews because of its vivid portrayal of a child abuse (its official MPAA Rating: "Rated R for sadistic torture and sexual abuse, nudity, language and strong sexual dialogue - all involving children."). However, one of my favorite horror film reviewer said that it was horrifying because you know that it was based on a true event, hence you know that it had actually happened. And that was disqueting, and what had made the film horrifying. He said, by the way. I still need to see it.

The Orphanage. Actually, the only reason i was excited about the fest. Official entry for this year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film from Spain? produced by Guillermo Del Toro (one of the magnificent trio - along with Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu - whose movies, either produced and especially directed, were certainly not going to be disappoint)? Oh, i'm so there. I don't even need to see the synopsis of the film. And its poster was a kick ass. Could this film be 2007's Pan's Labyrinth? I surely hope so.

Vexille. Remember The Matrix? It had an undeniable influence from Japan regarding the theme of machine-infested future. Don't believe me? Check the Animatrix. In my opinion, this anime is a must-see. Sets in Japan 2077, where there's a possibility that machines had their claws tight in our society, and a female agent, Vexille, was sent to investigate. Where The Matrix is the post-appocalypse world, i had guessed - and i really hoped that i had guessed correctly - Vexille is the pre-appocalypse world. The trailer of the film let us see a sneak peek of the quality of the animation and it's beautiful.

Surprise Movie. The event organizer was all shhh-shhh about this 'surprise' film. Some of my friend said that since Beyond Re-Animator was screened earlier, there's a great possibility that this 'surprise' film was going to be the original Re-Animator. However, since Re-Animator was scheduled to screened at the time-slot after this film (which is Saturday, midnight), that would eliminate the possibility. All i have is (probably false) assurance from the ticket-booth girl that i wouldn't be disappointed. I had marked her face and her name that should the film disappoint i would have a good start to hunt her down. Kidding.

The Ordeal. An obligatory one actually. I might not attend the screening because it screened on a Sunday 7 pm. I had picked the film because another one of my friend who claimed to dig horror films (not merely crap-topia Indonesian horrors which he detested earnestly) had recommend this film. I'd see then if our taste in horror films were aligned. And since French horror films that had managed to gain popularity rarely disappoint, this film maybe won't disappoint as well.

Back in the Game

I've got a call this morning (early morning, earlier than i'd love to) from my IT department senior. He was in Semarang at the moment installing Oracle Business Suite at our office branch in Semarang. He's calling asking me how fast am i in building a simple CRUD (Create Retrieve Update Delete, for you unfamiliar with IT) web-application. I had never been good in estimating projects, so i say, quite fast if i'm using PHP and MySQL. He said, can you make it before the day's end? I said, confidently, that i could. So, he sent me an email about the data which would become a base to the said application.

I clocked in earlier today, and checked my email right-away, and there you go, with a quick glance i counted three main tables, with another three identity tables used as constants, and so forth. However, i see my problems looming right from the beginning.

I fired my favorite text-editor and begin typing.

It was simple at first, i began to create a form, blank fields, a button, and some script to handle the queries. I was done in a half-hour for one CRUD cycle. But, as i was more comfortable with PHP (i've never done PHP coding for four years), and everything is starting to come back, AND i was adding another CRUD cycle to the application, i began to twiddle, and suddenly i was absorbed by the design and modularity. I started to separated each functions, and entities into its own classes (as much as you could doing an Object Oriented Programming approach with PHP, that is), and meanwhile, my manager asked for a minute brainstroming (which turns out takes about thirty minutes), one of my friend had bought fresh fruits (rujak) and somehow decided to bring the food at my table to which become a sudden attarction to my other office-mates, my Messenger buzzing with my senior asking about the progress AND proposing new requirements, i was delighted and surprised that i could come up with something like the image shown above this post before the day's end. Of course, the application was still buggy, but if the work order was done correctly, there won't be any misfire results.

I feel exhilarated. I missed the old feeling of having oppressed by deadlines, given a challenge to create something in a small time-frame, and to do something that i know i was better at (at least, better than having to sell a product, for an instance). Is it time for me to get back to school? Well..

Pushing Daisies (TV Series, 2007)

One of a brand new (first season) TV series that i watch recently was Pushing Daisies. The main plot revolved around a man, Ned, who often addressed as the Pie Maker by the serie's narrator (the serie uses narrator extensively). He had a gift which i'd say an absurd gift ever since he was nine years old. The gift is whenever he touches a dead living being, any dead living being, the dead living being would be revived.

Now, stop reading for a sec and try to guess the direction of the series.

When i read the first sentence of the main plot description, i had guessed the direction of the film was going to be a dark, gothic, philosophical, and horrific one. I had been wrong.

The Pie Maker's gift had its own rules. The series didn't explain about how the boy got the gift nor does it suggest the issue to be revealed or to be questioned later. The narrator had been shrugged off (or distracted us, the audiences) the ideas of whence the gift had come from... and instead focuses on the boy, who had chooses to accept the gift and never questioned the origin.

The rules of the gift is, if the revived living being touched by the Pie Maker continues to live for a full minute, then another random living being around the proximity would be dead. Any living being. Random. And the second rule of the gift, if the revived living being touched (or being touched by) the Pie Maker again, the living being would be dead permanently. Second touch. Re-dead. Permanent.

Fast forward almost twenty years later, the boy had grown into a renowned Pie Maker. As a side job, he partnered with a private investigator, a cynic, burly man, with a penchant for knitting. The P.I make use of the Pie Maker gift to revive a died crime-victim, obtaining the truth behind the nature of the death, and collect the reward. Until one day, when the Pie Maker had to revive his childhood neighbor, his first and last love, his first kiss, and had decided to keep her alive.

The Pie Maker and the dead girl were naturally in love. Their relationship was an awkward one that hough they shared the same bed, living together, and had a visible affections toward one another, their inability to touch, hug, and kiss were saddening and amusing.

However, the series didn't take the issue seriously (that's why it had been named Dramedy - Drama Comedy). They approach the matter with comical characters, sharp and distinct colors (think Dr.Seuss' The Cat in the Hat film, think Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and mocking absurdity (a car fueled with Dandelion roots? Come on, get real) that even though the series had often always dealt with death, it had no slightiest hint of dread or horrid. It was a light entertainment, not too exciting, but its weird and absurdness had been enough to make me smile a bit.

And of course, the series featured a LOT of cleavage, which is an added bonus, i'd say.

How Long Have I Been Working Here? Too Long

I'm dealing with three vendors right now, one of them was foreign. And even if i had itched to deal with the development process myself, oft at times, well, all of the times, i had to surpress the desire and as my manager had said, i've got to think the big picture instead of 'wasting time' with the details in the development processes. Well, i had to oblige, of course.

It was hard at first. It was like losing your favourite pet (not spouse, or loved one, mind you, just pet, significant enough, but not too significant). But after a while, i realized that all i need do is bug testing, arranging time for a technical and administration meeting, and making sure that all those guys working in technical details meet the agreed deadlines, which roughly takes about 40% of my working time. I could very much doing research about anything i wishes most of the time, and that's exactly what i'm doing right now, with one goal in mind, always look for opportunities.

Yesterday, i got asked by one of the vendor on the way home after the technical meeting (this was around eight, full four hours after the official working hours had ended) about how long have i been working here? I was silent for a while, counting the ye... months! MONTHS! I was shocked, and counting again to really made sure. But of course, i counted right, i just been working here for four months. Damn! I felt like i've been working here for far too long of time. It had seemed like i had lost the count of time, and had aging considerably since last July. Or maybe, after i was thinking about it for a while, i've been gone through so much in the span of four months that i was almost lose the track of time (those outing events, this seminar, that workshop, two weeks holiday last Idul Fitri, etc., etc.). Or, i had matured well enough in the last four months that finally i could leave the child in me far more secluded than ever (which of course, something i really don't want to happen, as i've pointed out in some of my post in this blog many months ago). I was better dressed, that's for sure.

All in all, i felt that four months had gone like forever, but it's not a short time as well, and yet, when i look back, i hadn't really made any significant contribution both to this company and to myself. Now, this is something i REALLY need to foresee. From last week. I had to really stop doing nothing and start making something. That private library (and private theater) of mine won't be building by itself.

Ratatouille (2007)

Film Review. If anything was certain in the film world this year, it would be this, Ratatouille is the best animated film in 2007. By large, and by far. And after The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Brad Bird has certainly firmed his position as one of the top man in animation films.

Ratatouille takes the tale of a gifted rodent (Remy) who had an acute sense of smell and wanted to become a chef. Given the premise, most of the scenery would therefore mostly at a restaurant's kitchen, in Paris.

The stars of this animated flick was of course, rats. There's no mistaking of the rat-ness or the rodent-ness of these rats even though the animated rats made them slightly cuter but again, there's no mistaking of that they are. Rats. Now, this would oppose a slight problem from some. For example, substitute the rats with snakes and there'd be no chance for me to see the film. None at all.

Anyway, the most unlikely combination of rats' dirtyness and kitchen's cleanliness worked well as a light-hearted entertainment that could be enjoyed for both children and adults alike. With almost two hours running time, the film had more than sufficient time - and did just so - of plot development time. I was delightly surprised when the film opens at the rural French where we learned about Remy's gift and his (this is an assumption really, but i think that it was a 'he' rat rather than a 'she rat) penchant to cook. Some of the later elements as the plot develops might be a little too thick for children but it never dwells long enough to make these kids bored. After all, the animation was so slick. Well, with Pixar, you really not expecting less than stellar. It sets the new bar for visual animation, if you asked me, check the chase sequence. Or, my personal favourite, the sewer scene at the beginning of the film.

Again, these are rats we're talking about. If you don't like the film, it's probably because you hated rats. Oh, the food critic rocks, he (voiced by the amiable Peter O'Toole, he practically steals every single scene he's in. And his final review at the end of the film, ah, now that's how you'd write a review and that's a part of why i had wanted to study English literature.

My Rating: ***1/2 / ****

North by Northwest (1959)

Film Review. I can't quite remember a recent thriller film which was this smart and this engaging. For one, the film throws a lot of questions. But unlike the more recent "thriller" releases, the film doesn't try to elude its audiences, throwing too many red herrings, and provide the answer in a timely fashion. An intellectual participation that doesn't mock its audience. Well, probably because in the last few decades the film industry lacks someone like Alfred Hitchcock to steer his audiences, or maybe i'm just too ignorant to notice. But like it or not, the fact remains.

In North by Northwest, Mr.Thornhill seems like an ordinary man, a working man, on his way to a dinner with friends while inscribing day's last notes to his secretary. He was kidnapped at the dinner and brought to a place belong to a certain Mr.Townsend where he was addressed as Mr.Kaplan. Puzzled, as we are, Mr.Thornhill refused to acknowledge that he was Mr.Kaplan and refused to cooperate. Mr.Townsend then ordered his henchmen to intoxicated Mr.Thornhill with a healthy dose of Bourbon and set him up for a car accident. However, Mr.Thornhill survives only to be captured by the police and then arrested for driving under influence. Claiming his innocence, Mr.Thornhill inscribed the last night events to his mother, his lawyer, and the police. Even more puzzling, when the police with Mr.Thornhill investigates Mr.Townsend residence, the party was addressed by Mrs.Townsend who recognize Mr.Thornhill rightaway as Mr.Thornhill (even though we and probably Mr.Thornhill has never seen her before) and said that he was indeed heavily drunk during the last night's party at Mr.Townsend's residence. When asked about Mr.Kaplan, Mrs.Townsend doesn't know anything, and it was further leave us and Mr.Thornhill about his real identity, the motives behind his kidnap, about who is Mr.Kaplan, about Mrs.Townsend's role in the events, about.. about..

The previous paragraph was in short, the first twenty five minutes of the film. We follow Mr.Thornhill's investigation about the said event at Mr.Townsend's residence for the rest of the film.

The film was best described as a detective film rather than a thriller. And like it not, intentional or no, if the film doesn't fail to hook your interest with its first twenty-five minutes, it would surely sucked you in, as you would love to understand the connection between Mr.Thornhill and the yet unknown Mr.Kaplan. This film therefore, would piqued interests from those who claimed had a certain penchant to detective stories. I was piqued. Further, the film had provided probably one of the eternal motion picture's still image (image above).

However, in my opinion, the film later went to a grey territory when it decides to involve some secret organizations and finally, a love story. From a smart detective film during the first hour to almost as low and as simplisistic as any Roger Moore's James Bond films during the next. I admitted that i had overestimated this film beforehand because it was the third highest reanked Alfred Hitchcock's film at IMDb's top 250 films of all time. I liked Rear Window even Psycho (the only other two Hitchcock's films that i've seen, i know, i know, got to see more of Hitchcock, and subsequently ranked higher in the list) more than this film.

Spotted Cameo: Mr.Hitchcock was known as the one who almost always appears in his own films. In this film, i was smiling when i saw him as one of the New Yorker who misses his bus at the beginning of the film.

My rating: **1/2 / ****

Tokyo Story / Tokyo Monogatari (1953)

An elderly couple from Onomichi were planning to visit their sons and daughters in Tokyo. However, they were forced to face and later, realize how far has their sons and daughters had drifted away from them, absorbed by their own business. A simple quiet tale of a family, that would remind you of how important the family is, Tokyo Story (or Tokyo Monogatari) is a heart-breaking tale, ironic but bitterly rings the truth to our ordinary life as sons or daughters, or as fathers or mothers.

My interest on classic Japanese cinema, like many others, i'm sure, i begin my journey with Akira Kurosawa. Having seen many of his films, i grew more familiar with his Samurai-themed and takes on life, and grew a perpetual fondness with one of his film about life of an old man, Ikiru.

It was only a matter of time. In fact, it was only a short while before i heard of Yasujiro Ozu. Alas, i had tasted my first Ozu only last night, with Tokyo Story, a film that has been on top of my wanted list for a loong time.

The film was slow, very slow, with two hours more of nothing but drama talk, it was not a film for everyone. But, of course, since i loved drama, and slow paced film was nothing new to me, i daresay that this film is surely one of the best film of all-time. A perfect atmospheric sights and sounds, a perfect cast (you would easily guessed correctly each's characters based on look), a down-to-earth theme that surely would kicked in at your daily life or history, and - yes, twice - a perfect cast (the Mother character whose i'm sure would be easily identified by any audiences who had a loving Mother. I, for one, missed my Mother dearly after seeing this film).

It has been said that the film has many of Ozu's traits in which not melodramatic or structured around Hollywood plot points, important events often not shown in screen, thus forcing us, the audience to made guesses about the events happened previously. In Tokyo Story's case, it works tremendously well because a) It keep me hooked up to the story, which otherwise would be potentially boring. I mean, it's a story about an elderly couple made a trip. I'd say, only the most capable director would take the story flight away from a boredom. And that's exactly what Mr.Ozu has done with the film. And b) It has an element of surprise. I was shocked at one point of the film when the events turn heart-breaking.

I can't praise this film enough. At the end of the film, during the final conversation between Father and Noriko, i was genuinely in tears. The film's final coversation was an irony that ring true in my personal life, i was ashamed and appreciated the film even more after that final scene. If you haven't had enough love to your parents before this film, i would very much sure that your love would be doubled, tripled, quintupled, even more by the end of this quiet masterpiece. Unless, of course, you fell asleep.

Side note: The film was made in 1953, a mere eight years after the World War II. On a lesser scale, i haven't seen anything much achieved in our cinematic world after the events in 1998. That was nine years ago. Those Japanese are sure something, eh?

A Violation to the Commitment

This is bad, i've made a commitment to post at least once daily during the work days. Now, the working hours almost done and i've got nothing to publish. Apologize, but i think that i had to scrape this one day off the chart, and babbling into an utterly random and non-sensing bubbling about things. Things.

I liked my office's internet connection. That, and the fact that there's always free food and coffee. But most of all, it's my internet connection. And i was the sole person who had the key to the gateway between the office numerous terminals to the internet world outside. How sweet can it be? Yeah. And oh, i had a several hundred of Gigabytes free space, and tons of DVD-Rs, so, i figured, while i'm here why don't i use my internet for something i really liked? Like, for instance, downloading movies. After all, when downloading movies, you'd only needed to provide the torrent files, and let the computer do the rest. I just checked out each morning to see which one of the files done downloading, and most likely, adding new torrents for download, and burned the content to the disc, brought them home in the evening, grab the snack and watch them as i drifted off to sleep.

However, i had a pretty strict code in downloading. As you must've been aware, downloading via torrent is a potent and a sure way to kill your bandwidth. So, i was applied the same rule of my clients (the 250-ish employees in my office) to my own downloading task. But only if the clock said that the hour was still a working-hour. After that, gaaaaaa.. let the greed begins.

Pretty dull life, if you asked me. I know i needed a change, a more dynamic and challenging roles both in work and in life. But until i found out what 'dynamic' and 'challenging' means, i would be pretty content enough with my current life right now.

Recently seen:
- Heroes Season 2 (pretty dull)
- Dexter Season 2 (exciting)
- Bionic Woman Season 1 (zzzzz....)
- Chuck Season 1 (mmm.. Yvonne...)
- The Simpsons Season 19
- Survivor Season 15
Films:
- La Dolce Vita (1960)
- Dr. Strangelove (1964)
- Tokyo Story (1959)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- Audrey Heburn's Complete (!) Collection
- Many more classic films in my downloading queues...

MMM.... Gotta love the Internet. Gotta L-O-V-E the Internet.

Monstrous Regiment: Book Review

To have your own custom world is a very convenient thing if you're a writer. You could take very much anything that happened in the real world, and re-imagine it as if it's happening in the world you've just created and had a story of your own. Further, you could tackle even the most sensitive subject (such as religions, politics) and re-told the story without offending anyone. It's very convenient. But of course, in order to do so, you have to really creates a world, apply their custom rules, creates its inhabitants, and creates its history, which of course, wasn't easy. At all.

"Monstrous Regiment" had its own little history behind its title and it was yet another Mr.Pratchett's story that took the world of Discworld as a backdrop. In short, it was about women's participations in a war with some little take on religion.

In Borogravia, where its inhabitants embraces a god called Nuggan, who decreed (among other things) that the colour blue, chocolate and sneezing are Abominations, a war was raging. Polly Perks decides to go into the army in an effort to find her brother Paul, and went into an army as Oliver Perks which was of course an Abbomination into Nuggans as she needs to cut her hair, wearing a pants (with a pair of socks), and swaying, and spitting, pretending that she was a man. Little does she knew that the regiment she was enlisted into, consisting of (among others) a coffee-addicted Vampire, a Troll, an Igor, a rather funny-in-the-head Liutenant with hints of dark history, a utterly-religious private, and a private with peculiar fascinating in fire.

Granted, making people laugh is a hard task. Especially if you means to do so through written words. It's a rare occassion for me to laugh, and even more to actually stop reading to stifled my laugh, but, with Mr.Pratchett's works that i've read so far, has never failed to do so. I was having a really funtime laughing especially at the earlier parts of the books where Polly makes her research and observation to how men's talked, cursed, swayed, and more importantly, spitted. It was also a fun ride when Polly adjusting her role as Private Perks and quickly gaining ranks through various incedental occurences.

However, as with other Mr.Pratchett's works that i've read so far, the half-end of the book weren't exactly as fun.

Once, the book finishes introduction and delved deeper into the more-serious territory, the reads become harder. Not only because Mr.Pratchett's was British (in my opinion, British English is far more difficult than the US English, quite probably because i used to US English more than British through entertainments), but because there were too many to my liking cross-references, and subtlety that sometimes i would read a passage several times before truly comprehending what the men were trying to hint at. Therefore, it was a particularly hard for me to finish the book.

Aside from that, it was pretty interesting in how Mr.Pratchett expresses his words on the role of women in times of war, in an occupation best known as a 'man-territory'.

Also see:
- Discworld
- Terry Pratchett

My rating: ** / ****

Writers on Strike

Have you ever wondering about the hard-working men behind the screens whenever you were fascinated with a film or a TV show? Yes? Well, how often did you wondering and particularly making a silent apprehension to the writer in particular? Oh, i see a hand raised, yes, you at the far-end. Huh? What's that? You're a writer yourself? I'm sorry, but that doesn't count. Anyone else? Well? No? Then, maybe, since those writers weren't received enough attention (and money, yes, particularly money), maybe if they went on a strike, you'd see how important their roles are in the industry.

As of today, 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on a strike. The last strike was happened at 1988 and costing the American entertainment industry a whopping estimated 500 million dollars.

I was guilty as well, for not paying enough attention to the writers, often more to the directors, and actors. From what i've read, this strike could well be a considerable threat to several running TV series. The most notable will be the much awaited Heroes: Origins that previously scheduled to air somewhere on February. NBC has put the spin-off Heroes series on an indefinite hiatus.

As a casual viewer and particularly a huge fan of a good script, i sincerely hoped that the WGA and whatever party that they went on a strike against could come to a mutual understanding between each other so that we wouldn't have to suffer a terrible scripted films and TV series for long.

Image courtesy of www.cinematical.com

Stroke of Luck

How often do you feel lucky by winning some lucky draws or to win some door prizes? Well, i've never in my life won anything, for that matter. Not even once that i've been giving up trying to participate into any lucky draws or contests in hope to win some prizes long ago. I believe that my luck lies elsewhere. But, is it a curse? A some kind of an unlucky totem that hung ever closely at my shadow, grinning profoundly whenever i was not lucky. Of course, since i'm a believer, none of that nonsense would allegedly accepted in both my logic and my faith. But the thought sometimes amused me.

Last Saturday, i was at Manchester United Cafe at Sarinah, Jakarta to see a big match between Arsenal against Manchester United. As custom to the cafe, when i made my registration, i was given a coupon to fill out with my predictions on the final score of the match, and a man of the match. I was right on both accounts.

The man of the match was easy, thus, i wasn't expected to win anything since hundreds of the patron would came out with the right answer. Now, the final score of the match which i answered correctly, that was another matter. Arsenal is currently a team that has been spotlighted by media and fans alike. With their young guns, and a considerable doubt since Thierry Henry was transfered out to Barcelona earlier this season, their undefeated record so far has been the highlight of the news. Manchester United, on the other hand, started out rather slow this season, but came back strong recently when their several last matches were won with at least four goals scored at each match. And with Wayne Rooney found his 'touch' with the goal-posts, i had a pretty much an insurance that Manchester United wasn't an easy opponent for Arsenal to beat. The only reason that prompt me to predicted a draw between the two teams was that the match was held at Empire Stadium, London, the home of Arsenal.

The final score of the match, as you would've known today, was 2-2. Arsenal was more superior in the midfield, but lack a considerable firepower at front, while Manchester Utd. had all the fire fully loaded, and the defence was at their utmost performance. Of all the hundreds patrons that night, only five (according to the Master of Ceremony) coupons answered correctly. Of which one of them would be picked to win a prize, Jakarta-Singapore-Jakarta flight ticket. That means, there are 20% chance that i was the winner. Tell me, how often do you get that big percentage of a chance from a quiz? And, with my personal history of the one who never ever wins anything (from drawing a coupon, or any of those methods that relies on luck) in my life, would you blame me that i had my hopes high that evening?

Well, of course, the unlucky totem grinning again, showing his ugly teeth, and somehow had give the winning chance to some girl instead. Ah, maybe my luck did lies elsewhere, though, i'm still unable to locate them correctly as of now.

No Java for Leopard

No Java for Leopard? Now that's a huge consideration for me to upgrade my MacBook's Mac OS X. I've heard nothing but a good thing about the newest cat from Curpentino, and of course, the eye-candied desktops, virtualization, Boot Camp, Spaces were tempting to get a try out. And for a measly price of US$ 150, i'm ready to pay for it. In fact, i've been asked about the availability of the Leopard at various Apple retail stores in Jakarta, and planned to buy one this evening. Until of course, the non-existant Java 6 support.

Actually, i would gladly wait for Apple to release their updated Java 6 version for Mac in a near future. However, given that even the threads about Java in the Apple forum were deleted, i highly doubted that they would included the Java 6 in a near future. Oh, the agony! While it's true, that i don't code Java for a living anymore, i still needed a Java in my machine to keep myself sane and as a reminder to myself of who i was, of what i was, of what live i used to have and love. And of course, to keep practicing, in hopes (and dreams) that someday i would have a chance to wound back into it.

Now, what are my options? Keep my old Tiger? Switching into a new religion, that is Cocoa and Objective-C native to Mac OS X? Or, most likely, switch to Leopard and start utilizing my Toshiba, though of course, given the probability of carrying two computer laptops already give my back an ache. Oh, the agony!