I feel I should provide a bit of an insight into how this blog is written and updated. From the outside, it may seem the answer is “infrequently” or “poorly”. All too true. But here’s why.

Lately, work has been a monstrous pain: there’s lots of things to do, not enough time to do most of them, and yet all of them are being pushed as the most important tasks. First and foremost, I have to investigate the new features I will be responsible for. First and foremost, I have to fix bugs in my old features. First and foremost, I have to attend meetings about both. First and foremost, I have to answer to six people why I’m behind schedule. There’s a pattern here. All of this makes for a stressful day, an unhappy me and an almost-forgotten-about blog. Hence, the recent lack of updates.

Now, here’s a small foray into what makes it into the blog and exactly how. I get ideas. Strange things I think about on the way to work or during yet-another coma-inducing meeting. Then I e-mail myself whatever idea I can still remember by the time I get to a computer. Right now, I have 12 unread, self-addressed e-mails with such descriptive titles as “idea”, “for the blog” or simply “thoughts”. So, once a week (or so) I sit down, sift through the rubble and dredge out whatever I still find interesting. Those thoughts are sometimes enough to fill a few pages-worth with crazy ramblings. Most of the time, though, I just make bullet lists and blabber on about entirely disjointed concepts.

So, here’s what’s on tonight’s menu:

• Josh Groban’s “Awake” CD sucks. It’s essentially rap. When he’s not singing in Italian, he’s reading prose to semi-classical music. I’m sorry, what the hell is that? I’m no expert when it comes to music, but it seems that songs sound better when the lyrics actually rhyme. I don’t know, that’s just me. What he sings in Italian is great and I adore it, but I find myself fast-forwarding past the rest of the songs that he sings in English. Maybe that’s his new style? Or maybe I just don’t “get it” (which is quite possible). I know I loved his first album (“Josh Groban”) when I first heard it in college. I really like “Closer”. But “Awake” disappoints and bugs me. Like I said, seems more like rap. Or some guy reading a phone book.
• People stumble onto this blog for a variety of reasons: some of them might be regular readers (wishful thinking), but most come here by way of a search engine. Here’s a choice list of verbatim search terms that leads people to this blog. In [brackets] are my comments, not part of the actual query:
  • CSI “feather database”
  • picture of a cartoon saying SICK BASTARD
  • alien pick [I think this refers to a guitar pick with an alien picture. Maybe?]
  • gta sa hot coffee clips
  • spying on boyfriend
  • thick babies [WTF?]
  • cocaine happiness quotes
  • blank gun TV rules [Are they wondering what rules actors on TV follow when using a gun?]
  • screenplay randomizer
  • reverse determinism [Wait, what? Who in the world is wondering about reverse determinism?!]
  • dish chairs with fuzzy coverings

  And every day (really) there’s someone looking for an electronic copy of “Jumper”, “Replay” or a Heinlein book.
  People end up here for really strange reasons.

• Stephen Fry told an interesting story during the sixth episode of season 1 (series “A”) of QI:
  

  I was in a room with Paul Merton and Nicholas Parsons… Paul Merton was writing on this piece of paper for quite a long time, and Nicholas Parsons said to him “What are you writing?”, and Paul said, “It’s a suicide note.” [*] And Nicholas said, “Oh”. And then Paul said, “Sign here, Nicholas, would you?”

  Now, that part denoted with the [*] is the interesting point. It’s a point at which I laughed really hard. On the show, however, there was dead silence. It wasn’t until Fry said “sign here, Nicholas”, that the panel and the audience broke up in laughter. Is it bad form to laugh at something so drastic and uncommon? How often does it happen that you’re present in the room with a person in the process of writing a suicide note? What is happening at that moment that the person in question decided, right there and then, to end their life? This reminds me of a PostSecret card (that is now inaccessible, thanks to Frank’s asinine posting practices) where the author say something along the lines of “[Someone] called me and asked me how to spell [some word]. I later read it in his suicide note. He was writing the note while talking on the phone with me.” I like that card, wish I could see it again.
  Fry follows up his anecdote with the following (paraphrased):

  The Spanish general and political leader Ramón Blanco y Erenas, when asked by a priest on his death bed, “Do you forgive your enemies?”, said “No, I have no enemies, I’ve had them all shot.”

  At this point both the audience and the panel laugh. Murder is funny but suicide isn’t?

• Good night.