For the Lovers and the Liars!

I heard a quote a few weeks ago which made me chuckle. Part of the reason for this was because this quote was recited to me when the summer holidays were still going on. As a result, my sense of humour was active since I did not have a possibility of impending doom (read: assignments) ominously hovering nearby. But nonetheless, it was a good quote:

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who love the Beatles and liars!

Initially, I took this as just another funny quote. Along came September 9th. If you aren't a total Rock Band nerd, that's the day Rock Band: The Beatles came out. I basically fell in love with the Beatles overnight.

Previous to this spiritual awakening, I hadn't really listened to them very much. I mean, I obviously knew a bunch of their songs (who doesn't?), but I didn't listen to them on anything resembling a regular basis; however, in playing the new Rock Band game it was kind of impossible to not listen to some of their songs, and as a result, I really appreciated their music for the first time. I mean, before the game I didn't dislike them, I just wouldn't be able to, for the life of me, name more than about...15 songs of theirs. But now that I've played this excellent game, I've decided that the Beatles are the greatest band ever (I'm so original!). I think my new favourite song is "While my Guitar Gently Weeps", but, strangely enough, my favourite rendition of it is not by the Beatles. It is by Prince. Oh, sorry, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, aka . Why? Because Prince just happens to be a better guitar player than Eric Clapton (who played the solos on the original Beatles version). Link!

I now realize that quote is entirely true. I was in a third category, a category of people who hadn't really listened to much of their music (I'm sad I know!). Nonetheless, the concept of the quote is still entirely brilliant and (almost) correct! Now go forth and love the Beatles!

~Setsanto

I've Travelled All the Way from 1992 to Write This Blog Post!

Hm, it has been a while has it not...lately I've just been feeling quite unmotivated to blog, but now I'm back! Please, I appreciate the tumultuous applause, but I need to continue with the rest of my post.

Since I last blogged, the following things have happened to me:

1. I went back to school - This was not such a downer actually. Summer can become quite boring after not that much time so it was actually pretty good to be back! I am in Grade 12 this year, and so far it has not been overly busy. I am taking Economics, Biology, English and Canadian and World Politics this semester, and French, Chemistry, Calculus/Vectors and International Business next semester. I am throughly enjoying all my classes this semester, hopefully the next one will be along a similar vein!
   
2. I was elected to the Austrian Congress - Ok, this actually isn't as awesome as it sounds. You see, there's this game called eRepublik, where you are basically a citizen in a country in this fictitious new world. I ran for congress and was elected. Woo!
3. I was rejected by my computer - The other day, I decided to boot up my wonderfully reliable and kind Windows Vista. It not so kindly informed me that it wasn't activated. I very kindly informed it that it, in fact, was. I then kindly patted it on the head. At this point, I discovered that my pet Vista was actually a brutish three-headed dragon that spewed out hate and rage. Oh, and fire. Duh. So in essence it didn't let me on and refused my petty "logic" and "facts", and I am now using Ubuntu.
4. I went to a University Fair - This was actually pretty good. I received a lot of information from some really helpful people and I'm now pretty sure about where I want to go!
5. I got addicted to heroin and crack - For the record, heroin and crack are my pet names for Restaurant City and FarmVille, two Facebook applications which you will never try if you value your life and free time!

~Setsanto

GYLC Episode I: The Phantom Baggage

On August 2nd, I had the great joy of waking up at 4:30 AM. The reason that I woke up at 4:30 AM is that when I told my mother I need to be awake at 5:30 for my flight, she construed that I meant 4:30. But regardless, I was mighty chuffed to be awake, since at 8:14 AM of that day, I would be flying off to Washington DC for the trip of a lifetime.

I was to attend a conference known as GYLC, the Global Young Leaders Conference (it is impossible to say that without sounding exceedingly pompous), wherein I would be able to meet a lot of young and old leaders from around the world, visit some pretty cool places and otherwise basically have a blast. Since so much happened in those 11 days, I've decided to split the days up into 6 episodes, which, naturally, bears absolutely no resemblance to Star Wars whatsoever. In addition, the titles of my posts will bear absolutely no resemblance to Star Wars whatsoever. The main reason for this is that I, unlike them, will be smart and actually start with Episode I, as opposed to Episode IV.

My flight to GYLC was nothing if not...interesting. My first interesting experience was while going through airport security. In front of me was the world's most stereotypical Rastafarian (he literally reeked of weed). While walking through the thing, it beeped. The conversation that followed went something like this:

Customs Guy: Sir, could you step aside? I'm going to have to search you.
Rasta: Think about it, mon. Who is it that you're searching?
Customs Guy: Er, what?
Rasta: Should you really be searching me if you haven't even searched yourself?
Customs Guy: Well, sir, I do have to search you.
Rasta: Ok, mon, Have a rad-i-cal search. I hope you find what you're looking for.
Customs Guy: Sir, you do realize that I am looking for illegal goods on your person, right?
Rasta: No, mon. No you're not. You're looking for him *sweeps arm in arcing motion in the general direction of the sky*. I hope you find what you're looking for mon. *Pats guard on cheek* *walks away*

I can honestly say that I had not laughed that much in a long time. This laughter was soon stopped by the cruelty that is air travel. I was supposed to fly from Toronto to Newark, and then from Newark to Baltimore. This plan was intrinsically flawed, since 3 days after I booked my non-refundable flight, the GYLC people decided that they wouldn't be sending a shuttle bus there anymore.

So anyway, Toronto to Newark went pretty well until I decided that it would be fairly nice to board my next flight on time. Apparently Mother Nature did not agree. Newark was pelted with a rather furious rainstorm that lasted some time, causing my flight to be delayed a few minutes. Continental decided to be nice, and shoved me on a plane that was supposed to be leaving before my plane, saving me a valuable hour or so. At this point, I was thinking "Wow, Continental is pretty awesome!".

I'm also a very misguided person. You see, while Continental was nice enough to put me on that flight, they decided that putting my luggage on the same flight would be a pointless. So my luggage came to Baltimore with my other flight, killing that valuable hour or so. At this point, I had to figure out how to get from Baltimore to Washington DC. A friendly lady told me just to take the train, which turned out to be $6.50. I was overjoyed since that was cheap. So I bought myself a train ticket and waited for a train. Which never came.

What the rail station people had very helpfully not posted was that the rail track was undergoing repairs , and since the airport station was the last in the line, it received no more rail service. So after standing around for 45 minutes, looking like a complete idiot, I was informed by a helpful, hourly PSA that I would not be receiving train service on that day. So then I got to find a taxi.

Holy hell, taxis are expensive. Not only that, but my first taxi driver took me to the wrong Sheraton. So then I got to trek around Washington trying to find another taxi, which thankfully wasn't too difficult, and I managed to find my way to the correct Sheraton, only about an hour late. So that was day 1/11!

~Setsanto

The (much less) Great Open-Source Cleansing

With a very heavy heart, I have come to the realization that Windows-only just isn't going to work. So I've decided to allow myself 4 non-Windows programs to use. Most of these pertain to modifying windows itself, since I'm neurotic in terms of personalizing my operationg systems. With no further adue, these are my selected 4:

1. Reshacker - A mashup of "Resource" and "hacker". You know those .dll files that every Windows program is chockablock with? Well what they do is they modify the program to fit your computers needs. One might be to specify the resolution size, another might be for your saved games etc. What reshacker lets you do is edit those files, so as a result I have a different login screen, a different icon set, transparent window borders at all times, a Windows 7-esque toolbar etc.


2. iTunes - Mac fanboys, go crazy. If only I had the Zune I wanted (September 8th!), I could use the Zune software, but since I only have my iPod, I was forced to get iTunes...


3. Adobe Flash - This should be a "No duh". It's kind of impossible to survive daily web browsing without it.


4. Steam - Steam is sort of a game hub type thing. Because now that I'm on a system on which I can game, I kinda want to. :P

~Setsanto

Screenshots:

The Great Open-Source Cleansing

For the past year or so, I have been using Ubuntu (an Open-Source Linux distribution) for about 90% of my computing needs. A few weeks ago, I preordered Windows 7 since I have quite enjoyed using the Beta; however, in order to install Windows 7 when I get it, I will have to upgrade from Windows Vista. As a result, I had to install Windows Vista today (Don't worry, I will get to my point eventually!).

While installing Vista today, I came up with a spontaneous challenge for myself, namely surviving with Microsoft-only products until the end of summer. So that means no iTunes, no Firefox, no CCleaner, no Avast, no Google (only Bing), no RocketDock, no OpenOffice, and most importantly, no Ubuntu.

It has only been a couple of hours, but I am already in pain. Considering this fact, I have come up with the ultimate punishment for myself. If I transgress my cardinal rule, I have to resort to, *sigh*, IE6 until Windows 7 comes around. I'm pretty sure that will keep me in check...

~Setsanto

Cultural Learnings of Germany for Make Better Glorious Nation of Canada

Before I begin (though I guess I already started), Borat was way better than Brüno. That is all.

Anyways, when I was in Germany, I noticed many things which Canada could greatly benefit from. The reason that I only realized that they exist on this trip is the fact that I wasn't tall enough to see them the last time I was in Germany. I was a short child. But enough about my height deficiency. Here are some things Canada could really make use of.

1. Toilets with TWO flush buttons - Though this may seem like overkill, it helps when you just want to practice your death metal drumming while you're on the loo, and you desperately need a double bass pedal. Am I really the only one that does that? No, that is not the real reason that there are two buttons. I was just kidding. Haha. It was funny. ANYWAY, the real reason that there are two buttons is that one button releases less water than the other. So if you, say, peed a little, you would press that one. That way toilets use less water!
2. Bikes - Yes, Canada does have bikes. But who actually uses them often? In my uncle's apartment building, for example, every single inhabitant bikes to work, except for one who can't bike any more because he hurt himself while, wait for it, biking to work. I will admit that distances are further in Canada, but North Americans in general do completely overuse their cars.
3. Diesel - Honestly, North America, what is with you? Diesel is cleaner, easier and cheaper to produce, and has a better MPG rating then normal petrol. So why do you hate it so much? Yeah, diesel cars used to suck, but they don't any more!
4. High gas prices - If people saw gas prices in the range of $2, would they be so keen on driving? I think not. In Europe, gas prices are much higher due to things like carbon taxes and the like, so people drive less. It's that easy.
5. Roads that are specifically intended to be *gasp* CAR-FREE - Yeah, here's a shocker. In many old cities around Europe, they put concrete pylons up so that people can't just drive around. Hmm, let's see what would happen if they transposed that concept to the centre of Toronto...

You may notice that most of this list revolves around environmental things. Hmm...maybe that has something to do with the fact that Canada and the USA are the second worst and worst per capita polluters in the world respectively. Nah, who am I kidding. I'm just a guy that likes the idea of 'socialized' health care after all, I must not have a brain!

~Setsanto

Of Organization and Planning

I have been in Germany these past few days, which has been a few days of many, many, many firsts. Since I have been in Germany, their sense of organization and control has rubbed off on me; therefore, the rest of this post will proceed buy way of ordered and unordered lists! :D

1. My first wedding - Yes, believe it or not, I have actually never been to a wedding. In fact, I realized that I'd better go to at least a couple more, and soon, since I've actually been to way more funerals then weddings. This wedding involved my uncle, Ulf, being married to a very nice woman named Martina. I enjoyed it thoroughly (the actual getting married bit that is)!


2. My first time getting drunk - Yes, it is true. I got drunk. But not by choice! You see, I find the taste of alcohol to be utterly revolting, and was actually adult-pressured into getting drunk by my aforementioned uncle. Also, since he knew I was an inexperienced drinker, it was decided that shots would be the best way to get me going. So yeah. And one more short note, the following firsts are all directly related to to this one.


3. My first time singing an entire Michael Jackson album out loud - Some time between 23:00, when the official dinner ended and everyone made their way to the bar/dance floot, and 4:30, when I left the dance (the last drunken souls staggered to their respective rooms at the late early hour of 7:00), I did in fact complete this feat. I was quite proud of myself to be honest! The album of choice was the "Bad" album, which is, believe it or not, actually a very excellent album. My favourite song on that album has to be "Man in the Mirror", as evidenced by the fact that I sung it no less than 7 times, or so I am told.


4. My first time dancing with another man - This is a bit of an interesting one. You see, my dance partner was a 38-year old man named Steven, from Alaska (an interesting side note, he went to the same high school as Sarah Palin), who was the photographer at the wedding. And he was the most utterly gay-and-proud-of-it man I have ever met. The way this dancing thing came up was like this: it was about 2:30, and all those present were very, very wasted (they were all drinking vodka as if it was beer). I had been chatting with Steven for much of the night, and had been acting as his assistant since most people there spoke almost no English, and he spoke very little German, so I was sort of the translator for the night. He quickly picked up on the fact that there were many homophobes there that night, but that I was not one of them by any means. So at 2:30 he looked at me and said, "It looks like we're just about done...want to scare these people to bits?" Now you must understand that I was drunk thanks to my uncle's...guidance, and therefore forgot that certain people such as my grandparents, my uncle and my entire loosely related family-in-law were in attendance. So I said "Sure, what did you have in mind?" And that is where this plan came into fruition. We did what I believe is commonly known as "Brought the house down". But yeah, basically everyone loved it, and I also sort of waltzed for the first time ever! But soon I had to go to bed. Which leads me to my last point.


5. My first time waking up with a hangover - ...Oh man. I can see where the complaints come from. It was not very good. And I am never going to a party hosted by my uncle ever again! The typical morning problems were compounded by the fact that my uncle was kind enough to leave a prayer alarm clock outside of my family's room, which resulted in a wonderful wakeup call in the form of being called to pray to Allah at 8:30.

I realize that I ramble on a little bit in this post. I will endeavour to organize my thoughts more clearly in the future, perhaps with another, slightly less alcohol-focused, blog post about my time in Germany.

~Setsanto

So Many Obituaries...

With the death of Billy Mays, who was quite possibly the only person in the world who could out talk the Sham-Wow guy, I was reminded of just how many people have died recently. I mean, just off the top of my head, I can already remember seven quite famous people dying so far this year (except for the dates, which I had to Google):

• Billy Mays - TV Infomercial Guy (June 28, 2009)
• Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (June 25, 2009)
• Farrah Fawcett - Actress (June 25, 2009)
• Ed McMahon - TV Announcer (June 23, 2009)
• David Carradine - Actor (June 3, 2009)
• Irving Levine - Newscaster (March 26, 2009)
• Helen Suzman - Apartheid Activist (January 1, 2009)

It really is quite sad...But it has led me to another realization, that was sort of compounded by a quote I saw outside of a gas station the other day:

No one cares who is pulling the cart until the horse dies

So bring in your car for a checkup now, for the low, low price of...etc. But the latter bit isn't really important. My point is this: people care more about others once they are dead. To illustrate my point: Michael Jackson was ostracized for much of his later life, all because he was said to have been a child molester. And though he was declared not guilty, that trial haunted him for the rest of his life. Though the quote above does not apply directly to Jackson, the integral point remains. People no longer cared about him until he died. Now that he has died, Michael Jackson jokes aren't "OK" anymore, people are listening to his music again, and people feel sorry for him, including many people who were involved in ostracizing him previously.

This is not to say that I don't think people should feel sorry for what happened to him. I just think that should have come out a little earlier. Michael Jackson might be an extreme example of this, but it seems to be an integral part of the human condition that we don't miss anything until it is gone.

~Setsanto

Your Daily WTF Moments

I swear I'm basically going to become a link-to-news-watchdog's blog, but anyway, here are your daily WTF moments. And yes, that is the most scientific way I can think of describing them, thanks for asking.

1. Fox News is accusing ABC of having unprecedented access to the White House and Obama in its report on Health Care reform, even though they got to do exactly the same thing with Bush when he was in power but a few years ago.
2. North Korea are planning on firing a missile at Hawaii to celebrate July 4th. "Oh, that's the day independence day is on? We just thought it was the 15th anniversary of Glorious Leader Kim-Il-Sung's death..." There really isn't much more I can say on this one.
3. Lastly, PETA is annoyed at Obama since he swatted a fly. And if you want to see some real newscasters on it, Stephen Colbert covered it here (it starts at around 3:15).

~Setsanto

To continue on a previous vein...

(aka WTF America. Seriously, WTF)

Some of you may know that the Iranian national elections occurred on Friday, June 12th. Ahmadinejad, the complete nut job that has been in charge since 2005, was "reelected" for another 4-year term. His victory was so obviously fake that his own Electoral Commission has declared the result to be a sham. So what happened? The head of the Electoral Commission "resigned" today.

Now I don't know about you, but this all seems slightly newsworthy to me. Just slightly. I mean, a guy that has denied the Holocaust, has called for the dissolution of Israel and the murder of all people in it, and has vowed to develop a nuclear bomb has just been reelected. In addition, it seems he did this through very very very shady means. The protests on the street of Iran have been huge, which is rare from a country that usually just likes to accept decisions, which is what they did the last time Ahmadinejad was elected.

So what has CNN, along with the rest of the American news stations, had to say about this? Well, up until today (Sunday, June 14th), nothing. Apparently CNN has done a 5 minute spot on it today, but other than that, zilch from everybody. I mean, come on. That's just ridiculous. I understand the whole "We only air stories that people will want to watch" argument (well, actually I don't, but I understand that it is necessary), but is there really anyone who doesn't want to know that he has been reelected?

Lastly, the Republicans have done it again. I kid you not, they are blaming Obama for this. How? Well, according to Mitt Romney, if Obama hadn't gone around apologizing to the Middle Eastern nations that America had screwed over, this would never have happened. Yes, threatening Ahmadinejad would have made everything so much better...

So anyway, get BBC if you're at all interested in actually hearing some news.

~Setsanto

I Love Right-Wing Extremists!

This might be quite shocking, but I realized today, while watching an amazing piece of the Daily Show, that I honestly love right-wing extremism. For the simple reason that it is just about the funniest thing ever.

Honestly, Barack Obama made a brilliant speech in a country which, by and large, really doesn't like America. So what does Fox News do? They attack him for it. I mean, how dare he say things like the fact that Muslim nations have given us basically our entire foundation in Mathematics and Science? I invite anyone to watch his speech and tell me that it anything but an eloquent, thought-provoking and ultimately extremely respectful plea for dialogue between the Muslim nations of the world and their Western counterparts.

Sadly, this isn't even the worst of the Fox News attacks. For example, we have this. Barack Obama was in Turkey, in the first step in his Middle Eastern peace tour. In case you've been burned out of videos after the previous 55 minute marathon, here are some excerpts:

President Obama:

If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

Sean Hannity:

He honors the national day of prayer behind closed doors. Now, on his Middle East apology tour, the President calls the U.S. a "Muslim nation."

President Obama:

We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens, who are bound by ideals.

Sean Hannity:

The same president who insists the U.S. is not a Christian nation is now calling us a Muslim nation.

Isn't Sean Hannity so sweetly naïve and just simply wrong? I mean, he would be if it wasn't so scary that Fox News actually gives face time to such a hack.

The saddest thing of all though is the fact that Fox News is only slightly worse than the rest of the big American (and Canadian) news stations. While Fox News's extremist stance makes it worse than all the others, its reporting is only as bad as everybody else. It takes someone like Jon Stewart (and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC to some extent) to really force the issue of the misreporting of facts and clouding of issues that is occurring worldwide. And as much as I like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, it really is sad when comedians bring higher quality news to the table than the reporters themselves.

~Setsanto

UPDATE: Let's not forget Newt Gingrich

The Death of an Ego

I play house league level soccer. I'm nothing special, but I consider myself to be in the better half of goalies at this age/level. Last week, which happened to be my first game back since last season, we won 5-3 after being down 3-1 at one point, which was a great result. This week, not so much.

To be fair, the team we were playing against was quite good; however, the score was unacceptable. 10-2 (to them obviously). I do realize that I deserve at least partial blame for this, but we would have lost big even if Iker Casillas was in goal. (He's the goalie for Spain, sheesh). Luckily, I did learn a number of key things about my team in the process:

a) My defense thinks a striker winding up to take a shot is their cue to part like the sea to Moses.
b) My midfielders do not understand the concept of defending
c) My strikers cannot finish any chance they get. ever.
d) I'm really really rusty.

To sum up a very painful game in a few short words, I played awfully, which made me one of the better people on my team today.

~Setsanto

The Zune HD

I'll be honest, in my own personal view, Microsoft wrecks Apple in just about everything, except design. That said, I have an Apple iPod Classic, not a Zune. This is mainly because Zune's weren't out when I got my iPod, but even still, I would have probably stuck with an iPod.

But wait, here's the interesting news. It's the Zune HD! It looks beautiful, and is due to ship in about September. It has a touch screen, internet browser, basically everything the iPod Touch has, except better because it's from Microsoft. And it ships in September! A much as my iPod is still in working condition, my birthday also happens to be in September...hmm...

~Setsanto

If my Saturdays were a Movie Trailer

On Saturday, I arrived at the place I play squash at. I was feeling good, and was ready to play some games.

{Cue Happy Music}

My first game went well, but I could sense something bad was going to happen.

{Flashes of game, fading out}
{Music switches to minor, then cuts out completely}
{Shot of me wincing at the end}

It was my tennis elbow. It had returned!

{Cue Requiem For A Tower}

That was when I realized that this was the time to fight, to persevere! Because tonight, we dine, in hell! (Hang on, that might be the wrong movie)

{Shots of me struggling}

I knew that this was my last chance, I had to emerge victorious!

And then my squash coach told me to take the week off.
[/anti-climax]

~Setsanto

My Life = Squash + Everything Else

As of Saturday, May the 9th, I am on the Ontario U18 D Squash team, a pretty awesome achievement. There is only one problem. In the past 7 days, I have played no less than 34 games of squash, including 5 full matches (Best of 5 games), one of which was against Saskatchewan B. As a result I am very throughly tired. I would hate it, but I've really fallen in love with squash again. I first played the game in South Africa, where I played for my school for 1.5 years. I did play for a few months after moving to Canada, but soon stopped. I've now started again as of January. I feel like I can suddenly play the type of game I've always wanted to, but never could when I was younger due to my lack of strength. As a result, I am currently in heaven concerning squash, but multiple factors, including a nagging elbow and mother, could turn my fairytale into a nightmare. I'm just hoping that it'll last.

~Setsanto

Car Indicator Lights

Alright, before I begin, let it be known that I am not usually this OCD. Let me make that clear. But anyway, here is something that bugs me: car indicator lights that don't blink at the same speed. Honestly, my brain goes berserk whenever I'm sitting in a turning lane and I'm looking at the car ahead of me. I have my car's indicator ticking away like a metronome, leaving me no choice but to try and tap a body part (such as a finger or a foot) to the rhythm of the other car. Which is invariably rushing/dragging.

So, this is a message for all prospective car designers out there. Get together with all the other big companies and decide on standard blink rate! TVs have managed it, as have telephones, flourescent lights, movie cameras, dial-up modems, sound editors (sort of), computer monitors...etc. I know that this won't mean that they'll be blinking at the same time, but a) off-beats are fun!, and b) we can incorporate an atomic clock some time in the future.

~Setsanto

Oh Look! A Distraction!

Some of you may know Little Gamers. If you don't, I would highly encourage you to get acquainted. It is an extremely funny web comic, even if it is written by a Swedish guy! The reason all of this matters is this: I got linked to My Brute through him and am now hooked. Between it and Omegle, I am honestly never going to work again. The basic premises of the two are as follows:

My Brute is basically a senseless beat-em-up. Well, all beat-em-ups are senseless, but this one takes the senseless factor to the extreme. You don't even have to do anything! It's a fighting game without any human input! This might sound boring, but it really isn't. Well, it gets boring after a while, but not as soon as you might think.

Omegle will sound creeperish to you, but do not be discouraged! Basically, it's MSN, except with random strangers. You go on the website and you connect to someone else and you talk to them. They don't know who you are, you don't know who they are. And somehow it isn't creeperish. At all. Just today, I had an enjoyable conversation with an American (a very very rare occurrence), and one with a guy who was going to school in the town I was born in in England!

I would encourage anybody to give them both a try since distractions are :D!

~Setsanto

Who am I?

Today, I was asked an interesting question: what country do I most identify myself with?

I was about to say "I'm English!" and then proceed to pull out some scones, tea and rain just to ram the point home, but then I realized that I don't really think that I'm English. See, I was born there and I lived there until I was almost 6. Since that time, I have been back a total of once (three years ago). Nonetheless, up to this point, my standard answer to the above question was "England ftw" essentially. But then I realized something (10 years too late): I really don't feel English at all.

I can just see all of you optimists going "Woohoo, 1 down, only 194 to go!"; however, elimination is clearly not the way to go about this. As much as I would love to go into how unlike I am to the people in 193 countries, you and I both have better things to do. So, to cut to the chase, I don't think I really am from anywhere. That said, I think there is one way I can identify myself: I am European. I can't say that I feel any particular affinity or connection to one country or another, but I do feel a strong connection to Europe.

So at this point, I had been standing in place, staring into space for about a minute or so, and in a complete daze. As I slowly returned to the world of the living, I spied the poor sod that had asked me the question. I'm sure he thought I had some sort of brain defect when I looked up, said "Europe" and walked away. Well, either that or he spent the rest of his days wondering when exactly Europe became a country and why no one had told him this. "I knew there was something fishy going on when they adopted the Euro..."

~Setsanto

New Layout!

I ask of you, is my new layout awesome or is it awesome? Well, right now it isn't 100% amazing (my page element borders are not working, among other things...), but it's getting there. I adapted a theme called "Agua" for my needs, which was surprisingly hard since the guy that made the theme was Spanish O.o. If nothing else, I learned the Spanish word for content wrapper!

I must say that I struggled more with editing the code than I would care to admit. It has been a while since I have done anything decent in terms of web design/coding, so apparently I've forgotten a decent amount.

I really like the simplicity of the new design, though I might change the background (maybe a light brown? Or perhaps a light blue?). #FFFFFF is a little bright to say the least...but hey, it could be worse (I'm looking at you, #99FF33). I also might, in a fit of creativity, actually make a decent header (the penguins would, of course, stay), though this is extremely doubtful since not only are my fits of creativity rare, but they also rarely amount to anything!

~Setsanto

EDIT: Comments are working!

Plinky: Almost as awesome as half of my right pinky!

Plinky (which is clearly more awesome than me to the power of Dark Tranquility times Mozart factorial!) has suggested that I write about 5 things I want to do before I die. Now, I am frankly slightly depressed by this question since there are far more than 5 things I want to do before I die. So instead, I will write about 5 things I think the afterlife (just remember, you go where Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks you to [Don't worry, I do know noone escapes his kick so there really isn't an afterlife, just continous death for the rest of eternity!]) could be like!

1. Wicked Techno Dance Party
Hmm...Rocking out with some crazy Eastern Europeans (among others) to this for the rest of eternity? Sign me up! My Europeaness (that totally is a word, don't even lie blogspot) has given me a love for techno that most North Americans just can't understand :P. I mean put this image in your mind: Jesus, the Devil, and yourself rocking out to some techno beats. Would you or would you not go for that?

On the flip side, there aren't too many ridiculously awesome techno songs, most are pretty boring. So unless I wanted to listen to the same 13 songs for eternity, I'd have to listen to some pretty bad stuff.

Rating: 8.5/10

2. A Melodic Death Metal Concert
This would naturally involve more growling than most people can handle, but hey, I like it! Anyways, these things are basically the party of the century and are just amazingly awesome. I enjoy every one immensely, so I'd love to spend my afterlife in one!

On the flip side, headbanging + eternity = neck sprains (as does sitting too close to the screen in movie theatres!). After one 4 hour concert, I couldn't move it for 3 days or so, so eternity would be painful. And the singer would get very hoarse (PWNIE! geddit? hoarse = horse = pony = pwnie? Nevermind...).

Rating: 6.5/10

3. Just like RL
Well, this would suck. A lot. There are very few positives, but there are some. For all we non-spectral beings know, you might not be able to sense anything in the afterlife, which would suck.

On the other hand, responsibilities. Deadlines. Meetings. Group Work. School. The Sham-Wow guy.

Rating: -10/10

4. The whole heaven-hell deal
Honestly, I would not want to go to heaven. Awesome people are (generally) uninteresting. Heaven would be all sitars and Muslim imams (haha Christians, FOOLED YOU!). O, and suicide bombers. On the other hand, hell. Bill Gates. Chuck Norris himself. Jesus (I mean, how cool would it be to say "Jesus Christ!" and see someone respond!).

Since only half of the heaven-hell idea is awesome, I have to cut their ranking in half. So,

Ranking: 5/10

5. Nothingness
Yes, a black, empty, desolate, souless, bare, silent, miniscule, individual, unsensing and unfeeling pit of despair. Or not! See, religions try to tell you that that's the alternative, but that isn't really what happens. You end. Finito. Capiche? Maggots eat your body and you become one with the earth! So this is why hippies rejected religion...

Ranking: 7/10


So therefore, it seems techno is for me!

~Setsanto