Archive for September, 2011
Gloomsday Report
Excellent. We’re mostly done with the Gloomsday activities and I think it all went quite well. Let’s quickly recap.
As I mentioned, this year’s stuff was supposed to be all about other people. So to begin with, I ran a couple of Facebook contests. One was a caption contest for a ridiculous photo (of mine, yes). Another was a simple voting thing that was really more sweepstakes than contest. I initially ran a drawing contest but no one participated in that, possibly because it took too much effort or they were too lazy to use their imaginations. (I kid.) In any case, the caption contest yielded one main winner (which was an excellent fart joke) and a consolation prize winner too. The drawing contest also had one winner. I’ve not managed to give out the prizes yet, but it all went as well as I could have hoped, I suppose.
Then I went to class with food and presents for everyone on the day itself. It went okay. No one complained that the food was terrible. No one suffered from food poisoning. (I hope.) And I guess that’s as much as I could have hoped for.
I met up with a bunch of people over the same period. This included a bunch of old classmates from the Engineering side of things, an old friend I’ve not seen for a year, and a trip to the museum with another old friend. More of these to come, some in this week, including a meet up with one of my earliest and best friends (tentatively Tuesday), tea with a newer friend, a good dinner with a bunch of good people among my current classmates, and coffee with one of those best friends from the Engineering side of things again. Some other plans coming up for the week after as well. Hopefully it all works out. But all of you have been brilliant.
Very few people actually gave me a present, and I think that’s a good sign that I’ve got my don’t-give-me-any-present-because-it-might-make-us-all-feel-really-awkward act down pat. Those who did, though, gave excellent presents, so it all worked out in the end.
My family has been great as well. They got me an amusing cake. We also went to see the terracotta warriors and then went up the Singapore Flyer. So it was all quite good, really.
Did I manage to complete everything I wanted to? Well, not really. But maybe about 90%? And I think that’s good enough.
On my side, I got myself a few books which have yet to arrive, and that is mildly irritating, but oh well, one day, when I least expect it, it will show up in my mailbox, and a surprise is always good. I’ve also treated myself to a couple of shows, one of which was Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which was pretty okay.
Right then, a bit more on this to come I think, but it’s mostly been a pretty excellent Gloomsday season.
d
New reads.
Oh dear. What has happened? Has the owner of this nefarious page slipped into a time warp and failed to show up for a week? Has he been fired from his job? (Hint: he did not have one.) Has he broken up with his girlfriend? (Hint: he did not have one.) Has he been fighting crime and aliens from outer space?
Well, not exactly.
Here is, however, something to distract you. My very brilliant friends got me a book voucher, which I promptly went out to spend. Here is what I got:
I’ve never read Andreas Maier before, but Klausen sure sounds good!
While I was at the bookstore yesterday, the security guards were busy apprehending someone I can only presume to be a shoplifter. He went, NOOO, PLEASE, NOOO, PLEASE, PLEASE, as his face was planted on the ground. One of the security guards seemed to say that the guy had smacked him earlier.
For me though, it was really super-exciting. Not that I would want to see more of this all the time. But it just goes to show you how really mundane my life is.
d
Mooncake day.
Happy Mooncake Day, everyone!
Gloomsday.
I’ve known for a long time that I share my birthday with Buddy Holly, but today I learnt that I also have Sonny Rollins and Jennifer Egan for company. That’s some mighty fine company. Happy Gloomsday, everyone!
d
Gloomsday Week.
Hello, and welcome to Gloomsday Week.
I was intending to update things over the weekend, but I didn’t get tot it because I was beset by what I presume to be some form of a stomach bug. I have something against stomach bugs because they were responsible for the two worst bouts of illness I’ve ever had. This one wasn’t as bad, but with deadlines looming and work beckoning, I was always going to be a little behind things.
I intend to replace the Featured post about Gloomsday soon because events will take place this week and the next, and it will all be quite meaningless to have that on the front page much longer. I’ll replace it with a report on how it all goes. Well, I hope.
I bought a new computer and I really ought to be blogging on that just for the sake of it, but I’m a little lazy to power it on. I got it at Comex. It’s a cheap and small Asus that I figured would serve me well for at least the next three years. It’s a little less powerful than the netbook I was initially eyeing (go figure) in terms of video performance, and has a little less hard disk space, and it has no USB 3.0, but I traded those for what I think is a nicer build quality, a preferred keyboard and touchpad, and more processing power. I’ll probably just be browsing, writing, and researching on it anyway. With the occasional Alpha Centauri.
Right. Gloomsday Week beckons. I have readings, presentations, essays, and a novel to complete. Off we go then.
d
P.S. I am treating myself to a dose of Enrique Vila-Matas this week.
