had an appointment at the dentist’s today. to be honest, i was a little scared (come on, who is not?) but my fear subsided quickly. it was just a check-up, nothing serious, everything is fine. after that the dentist polished my teeth with a special fluoride solution which left me with a weird taste in my mouth for hours.
Archive for May, 2004
check-up
Tuesday, May 18th, 2004why?
Monday, May 17th, 2004why i am doing this? i mean, why i am writing a PhD thesis? i ask myself this question almost everyday i turn on my computer and load the files containing the already existing chapters of the paper. i guess i have to prove something to myself, that i can actually prevail, succeed, or simply “do it”. so i think i have to hang in here until it is finished… but still, the question remains.
where is my mind?
Sunday, May 16th, 2004in the course of my work on the chapter about science fiction and how you define it, i came to the point where i wanted to list some recent examples of dystopian sci-fi movies that are (and this is the tricky part) not in my sample of films i am going to analyse. Gattaca came to my mind and then 12 Monkeys because i just purchased the DVDs. i watched Gattaca a few days ago so the plot is pretty fresh in my mind. that is, however, not the case with 12 Monkeys and i needed a short explanation why i think this is a dystopian vision of the future. i simply could not remember if the virus that caused the extinction of almost the entire human population in 12 Monkeys is natural or human-made. thanks to almighty Google i quickly found the answer: it is in fact human-made and that made my argument a lot easier.
the end of mt?
Saturday, May 15th, 2004movabletype 3.0 is out and they are going to charge almost U$ 70 for the personal edition. you can still get a limited (ie. one author and 3 blogs) version for free, but i have a dull feeling. what worries me is that “comment registration” service called typekey. is it yet another way to track people who comment in various blogs and spy on them? does it block comment spam efficiently? i do not know. now that i am really happy with mt-blacklist and stuff i am not going to upgrade to 3.0 or even pay for it, well, at least not U$ 70. that is rather steep, U$ 25 would be fine for a personal edition. i am going to stick with the current version 2.661. bad SixApart, no donut for you.
fight club
Friday, May 14th, 2004finally i managed to watch the highly-acclaimed film Fight Club. i am surprised how weird and innovative this movie actually is. it is one of those “hate it or love it” type of films. i need to re-watch it several times to get all those small notions and stuff.
np: The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
immersion
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004i am immersing myself in work right now. i do not make plans for other activities like riding my bike or going shopping. i solely focus on my thesis. after all, it is already may and time is flying by…
life goes on
Tuesday, May 11th, 2004while i was waiting at the drive thru window today i watched the traffic on the nearby street and saw a car being towed off. that made me realise that life goes on, with or without us. the important thing is that you can make a difference, change life. and i guess i am just in the middle of changing my life. those who know me know what i am talking about. btw. darn hat-syndrome has been haunting me for the whole day so far…
cause and effect
Sunday, May 9th, 2004the cause for the bouts of insomnia i experienced the last six month is finally revealed, or at least i hope so: selenium. apparently, i took too much of that stuff for too long. yeah, it is simple cause and effect again like the Merovingian tried to explain.
fun with LaTeX
Friday, May 7th, 2004people keep telling me that LaTeX (the text processor and type setting tool) is the way to go when writing a thesis. well, so i decided to give it a shot. it is certainly a great way to create beautiful (mostly technical) documents, but i guess not well-suited for my purpose. i need to get that darn thesis done ASAP and i do not have the time to learn all those LaTeX commands and stuff. maybe next time around, but not for this thesis. heck, i am going to stick to darn winword and create a PDF out of it… it will work somehow.
happiness
Thursday, May 6th, 2004according to Our Lady Peace, happiness is not a fish that you can catch. Aristotle offers quite a different definition of happiness: the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope. that is an intriguing statement i have to contemplate…