Jonny the Recovering Technophiliac

Welcome to what will be the first of a few new additions to my blog…well in this case, it’s more like an organized addition to an existing thing, The Babbler.  This is where i condense and summarize what has happened in a period of time since my last post with brief and random thoughts.  Some may make sense, some may not…but that’s the premise, all the babble thats fit to blog!  So off we go:

- I have always loved the mannerisms of my friends.  sometimes the best quotes don’t always come from Pulitzer prize winners or deities, they come from my friends/family.  I remember re-posting up a facebook status from my friend Roger that caused a flurry of responses, most humorous:

I have always found women to be dificult, I don’t really understand them. To begin with they dont understand themselves and on top of that they make us crazier than we already are. – his uncle

…yet one person had to muck up the fun, so i removed said status.  But on my way to a radio shack to get an adapter for his stereo, i thanked him again for that quote…because i believe there’s still some truthiness to that theory…at least in terms of both sexes, depending on the situation.

- I love my iPhone 3GS, it felt so good to be back in the game with that phone…i planned the purchase and patiently waited for the jailbreak/unlock, and it has paid off.  And especially because of those warm days. i can turn the lappy off and save energy if i just want to check mail…the iphone can handle that task just fine.

- i must admit, i am loving guitar hero…not just because it allows me to return to my drumming roots, but also because it allowed me to release so much stress.

- tonight i saw Oceans 13, one of my favorite movies…this quote i loved in particular:

There’s a code amongst guys who shook Sinatra’s hand! — [Reuben Tishkoff to Willy Bank about being double-crossed, Ocean's 13]

- I’m pretty confirmed that as long as the job hunt is coughing up a spleen, i am pretty much decided on going to grad school…but not for computer science…i’ve grown bored with it.  This time i may be aiming more for journalism…after all, i love to write.

- finally, I hate foreign movies that have dubbing in other languages…i feel it just diminishes the overall quality of the movie and what it represents…i mean what’s wrong with subtitles?  I’d rather watch a film in it’s native tongue with all the raw emotions while following what’s being said below with discrete subtitles rather than canned dubs that talk so scripted like some poorly-made college film.

i was reading around other blog sites about people’s opinions on wifi on airplanes, and i’ve seen different contrasting opinions on it especially since your privacy is essentially nulled given that you’re sitting next to a possible stranger 2 inches away.  many bloggers try to enact a system of in-flight wifi ettiquite…and as much as I agree with some of the rules, others i disagree with.  Well, here are my dos and don’ts…take it with a grain of salt dear reader:

DON’T use the wifi to surf porn…c’mon now there’s a time and a place for that.

DO use it to go on skype.  Yes i said it…it beats paying an arm and a leg for using the in-flight phone.

DON’T use it for file-sharing programs only because there’s no sense in sucking off the bandwidth for the other passengers.

DO use it to game online with other passengers…especially since your options for entertainment can be limited when on a flight longer than 4 hours.

DON’T use it to play Call of Duty and shout “BOOM HEADSHOT” while gaming…i should’ve been specific from the previous “DO”.

DO use your headphones…no one likes noise especially on over-nighter/red-eye flights, consider yourself warned.

ok, so i cant quite remember the last time i had a thanksgiving this good and tasty…and it wasnt just because if the meal itself.  i mean it was so much of everything rolled up into 1…ok, lets recap:

1. firstly, my parents where never the social types to invite guests and all to big meals or holidays…i guess that’s why kevin and i sometimes fill in that void when we hang out w/ friends.  this year my mom invited my godmother for thanksgiving…a first invite of any kind…and it actually worked.  we all talked about a bit of everything, and it made the meal pretty enjoyable what with new material and all.

2. i could eat without worrying about any impending trips to colombia…dont get me wrong, i love my extended family as insane as some of them can be, but i miss celebrating the holidays back at home in NY.  And after 4 years of traveling to Colombia, i think some change would be nice…at least it helps me save some $$$ for a little bit of xmas shopping.

3. there is no #3.

4. i got in contact with old faces, makes me glad i still have the ones i care of around me…greg, tiffany, jason, shirley, kim, thomas, amy, abner, tom…just to name a few.

5. i can finally goto the holiday parties my friends always went to but i couldn’t due to trips south of the border (not mexico way).

6. i can finally watch the charlie brown xmas special on TV instead of a poorly-dubbed spanish version at the hotel, lol…i mean regardless of any program, keep the original language for authenticity folks.  thats why subtitles where invented!  to not muck up the quality of the original program.  it could be a spanish movie dubbed in english, it would still suck.  So to all the tv execs…use subtitles, mmkay?  now lemme finish watching my charlie brown xmas special ok?

so that’s just about it…this thanksgiving was better than the previous ones.  so lets bring on december, on a good note may i add.

According to the wiki entry on the word “blah”:

“…Blah is a token word with no meaning of its own, usually used to
illustrate generic, boring speech. It may be used to fill in blank
space, or to replace another word or phrase. It’s for this last purpose
that blah is sometimes assumed to mean something negative because it is used to replace a word that may be unpleasant, but blah itself is neutral…”

For the past few weeks, the blah’d ambiance has settled in…which for the record, isn’t a good thing.  My mom’s been rather depressed since this coming xmas will be in NY and not in Colombia…the first time since my father’s passing.  Sometimes she wishes she was able to save him on that fateful day and proceeded to just put herself down.  I stopped her..told her that she’s a good person for making it this far and to never self-doubt.  I was guilty of self-doubting a long time ago ’till a close friend helped put things in it’s proper order.  So through that experience, i helped coax my mom and assured her that there was nothing any of us could’ve done to save him…all we can do is to make the most out of the holidays and not make it so “blah” by rehashing bad memories and beating ourselves to the ground.  It never gets better, just easier to cope with…so no sense in making things worse by abusing ourselves. 

That night i still felt much less blah’d-out, knowing that i’ve done my part to help lift a weight off my mom’s shoulders.  Sometimes the most negative of experiences may contain hidden blessings, as it helps us permanently learn things for the better, and to pass down the advice and experience to the next person who may be walking down that same jagged path you once walked on…so that person can be aware, just a little more.