Audiophilia!!

Among other things, I've picked up this nasty habit. So here I am fully indulging in the aural pleasures of audiophilia. Terrible thing to happen for my wallet but with all the masturbatory pleasures of getting lost in sonic bliss, it's like settling for the lesser of two evils.

I suppose there really is no pleasure without guilt *grins*

To keep things interesting, I'll just renew some activities around here by using this little blog as a journal of sorts. Perhaps when I go further down this road, this little journal can finally be of some use; to remind me of the moolah I've poured into this sin and of course, the aural impressions of my music with the various equipment I have sunk into.

That said, I'll just go ahead and detail my current rig:

Home Rig:

Macbook Serving Lossless Music (FLAC and ALC)
Sennheiser HD650
Zero DAC (09)
Little Dot MK V

Total cost of setup (-Macbook): $1300

On-the-go Rig:
iPhone 3G (ALC)
Shure SE530
Pico DAC/Amp
Qable Silvercab LOD

Total cost of setup (-iPhone): $1400

Kind of strange that my portable is seemingly more costly than my home rig, but heck I spend most time on the move so...

My New Journey to Where I Once Began

Well it has been quite a long while since my century of posts. I suppose much have transpired and things moved quite a bit since I last felt the urge to finally write something. I suppose, life turned a little for the better these days, which is great for the real life me, but a snag for my writing alter ego. It seems like there just ain't much to write about when one ain't depressed.

Tough!

Of I.Q. Scores and Century of Posts

Wow. It's been quite a long road for this sullen little corner. A century of (that's 100) posts already.
What better way to touch it off by showing my I.Q scores issued to me after my attempt at their I.Q tests?

Alright, so it's issued to me by some dubious organization (i.e. Tickle) and I seriously doubt I will be able to use this cert for any other purpose than to satisfy my own little ego. I don't think I will be appending this to my resume anytime soon.

So it says I have an I.Q of 133 (fully furnished with the bequeathing look of an honor scroll and 'Phd Certified' stamp to boot). A quick check of the scores over the Internet says, that there are less than 5% of the world population with this I.Q. score (the average I.Q range is 110 or so). Which means... I should be pretty smart!

Funny that I should feel stupid most of the time.

The irony of life. Bah.

My *Bleeping* Resolution (Or Thereabouts)

You know the thing about New Years. I have had a couple of decades worth already. (Yes, a couple. Seriously.) When I was way younger, I've never realized the significance of a New Year, not until I was in high-school at least. Even then, New Year has always been just the zenith of parties, where Xmas was just the penultimate teaser. Strangely, this philosophy of mine is still stuck with me.

As I am much older now, and have started to integrate myself to life as an adult (Integrations sometimes come with teething and occasional failings), the New Year thing is something else to me these days. Just like how at some similar point last year, the change of years is, to me, a bookend of sorts, finally closing a chapter that was last year.

So I was at a party (to me, anywhere with drinks and loud music, with people that I kinda like hanging out with and the fact that I can actually laugh is a party. Actual location is... unimportant) and someone brought up this interesting topic that I forgot a long time ago... that the New Year always comes along with the customary 'Resolution'. And to think that I've forgotten all about it!

THE NEW YEAR RESOLUTION.
A must have. A symbolic thing that gives us a focus. A yardstick to measure ourselves and where we are going eventually throughout the year.

In my personal opinion, a rather futile and naive gesture. Heck, I think it is still fun nonetheless. To challenge myself to a couple of stupid resolutions that I am certain I won't make any head-way on. So.... in the spirit of fun and all that is dumb, here are my resolutions for year 2007:

1. To attempt to put all the mush in this blog into a room and stuff it. (Stuffed Mush-Rooms. Geddit? Ha Ha. Ha. Er.. Okay that was lame.)
2. To either be able to sleep properly OR contribute myself as another statistic to 'sleeping pill users'.
3. To finally take up some liabilities from the bank and enter the stage of 'moaning about paying bank loans'.
4. To be able to fight for the things worth fighting for. People or otherwise. I think I have been laying dormant for more than is beneficial.
5. To be able to actually keep a resolution. If I fail... well... what can I say, there is always next year.

So for all people out there. It is good enough to just make Resolution Nombre Cinco and keep it. The rest... as they say is just formality.

Cheers and happy 2007.

Another December

It's been six years. I can't say that for those past years, that I have thought about you day in and out. I must admit that there are times that I've forgotten just how much you mean to me.

Sometimes, these state of forgetfulness is a kind of relief for me. For a while, I forget and I try to move on. I move on to different relationships with different people. I just grit my teeth and keep on moving forward. Sometimes, I try to change. I try to change myself in the hope that I change the the perceptions of things and people that I care for and love. I always manage to succeed in my process of self denial and self numbing, but I never manage to keep up my success for long. It always falls back to square on.

I know I fail terribly and I know that my success was temporary, if not an illusion. How do I know? It's in those times of semi-consciousness and half-drunkenness, that you just jump right back out at me from th depths of my mind. You break all the walls that I've painfully built up as easily as how the sandcastles crash under the weight of the seas. I crumble.

Friends ask me, why don't I try to win you back?

Honestly, I don't know. Perhaps I am just a coward by nature. I won't ever know how you will react to me again. What if the answer was no? What if I lost you again and lose whatever little that I have of you left with me now? After all, it was messy as it was six years ago. You will probably never believe me again. I understand, how difficult it is to erase the shadow of doubt. Something always remains. It took me six years to realize, that if someone remains in my mind for so many years, then I am pretty sure that person means a lot to me. Yeah, I am slow, but I got it now.

It hurts. I hurts like hell.

It hurts every time I hear you say that you are in love with someone else. Not that my blessings for you were not sincere, as even if I ever was a hypocrite, it was myself that I was deceiving. How else can a soul as torn as mine were to react?

It's another December. Six years ago, that December, was what I regret most.

Imagine Immortality

I was a man.
As a young steed I lived.
Fast, hard and reckless.
Exquisite,
Elegant,
Exorbitant,
In excess.

Death I have denied many times.
Only in youth would I dream of living forever.
And that was what I sought.

In a perverse nightmare,
On a moonless night,
He came to tempt.
He only stole a kiss,
The dance of his lips left an eternal stain.
He laughed,
At this prey entrapped.
He perversed me then he left.

And time passes tempering me daily.
Friends and family withered before me as I lay ageless.
Some die with sorrow and pity for me.
Others flee my abomination.
Truly, I am alone.

And love?
Every love I ever had pierced me deeply as they died.
Everything I have ever longed for perished with time.
Everything changes.
Everything but me.
Truly, I exist alone.

I watched as greatness happened.
I lingered in the destruction.
I watched as revolution began.
I lingered to savour the materials that ground to dust.
I lived many lives through many names.
How much more to go?
How long more to go?

And still I exist.
Yes, even today.
In my isolation I am watching.
Watching you, though you may not know it.
My only comfort is that hollowness within me.
An emptiness left void.
By my undeath.

And many more will be like me,
Seeking that which I have sought.

If you think that to suffer is humanity,
Have you ever imagined immortality?

Riffle Pass

This is something that I was able to do during my free time. Enjoy.

Riffle Pass with Single Face Up Card


Riffle Pass with All Cards Faced Up



Riffle Pass with All Cards Faced Down


Pardon the picture quality though. I am too poor ro own a decent cam.

Less Means More

Don't mind me for the night, as this is just a casual rant. A rant over some casual observation that became a muse/comedy (or tragedy, you decide) in my head.

Ever notice how the world is so upside down and inside out these days? Yep, we're living in a place where less means more.

The smaller the electronic gadget, the more expensive you are expected to pay for it. Okay, so I understand the part where to be technologically advanced, someone must of have invested huge amounts of money in order to shrink them gadgets as tiny as possible. Hence, the ridiculous price of the teeny gadget we find ourselves paying for sometimes.
What people mostly don't realize, is the fact that the primary motive for them to shrink things, is so that they get to produce things cheaper with less material used in production.
In short? We're being ripped off!

How about this next thing I've noticed. Short catchphrases and cliches carry more weight in meaning than a hundred word narrative. Yes, I recognize it as the marketing sham of creating something deliciously easy for our heads to munch and leave gooey stains all over our brains. We can't seem to get away.
Think about how short phrases like 'I love you' or 'Fuck you!' or 'Now what?' when shoved in your face really sets your senses racing all over.

If you are like me, and go to a regular boutique coffee place like Starbucks, you will notice how an Espresso, served in a teeny cup costs you 5 bucks, but a Quadruple shot Americano (that is FOUR shots of Espresso with a little bit of hot water filled in) doest not cost you 20 bucks.
Must be a really chic thing to drink outta the teeny-wintsy cup, that is if chic means stupid.

The ultimate bit of my enlightenment was when I saw a pricelist where 'Diet Coke' costs more than the regular 'Coke'. Now this truly baffles me. 'Diet Coke' is supposed to contain everything that the regular 'Coke' has, but less in sugar right?
So this is saying, that there is something with less ingredient in it, but it would cost you more. (And not that it tastes any better too).
It is like saying serving a Single-Patty (Diet) Burger will definitely cost you more than the regular Double-Patty Burger.
Moral of the story? Serve less, put the 'Diet' word in the name of the product and hawk it off for more profit.

How the world works these days truly amazes and confuses me at the same time.

I wonder, if since less means more, then... more must mean less right?

Apparently, the latter will only be held true in my fat dreams. Hah.