I admit it. This picture was taken a few years ago, but I think I still look vaguely like that. Depends on the day (and the time of day). And today, just before I uploaded this picture, an Indonesian English student told me how much she liked my nose. I heard that a lot in Indonesia. Apparently, a large nose like mine is a good …
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All, Pointless Pondering »
Memory Is So Flawed
Back in 1998, I went on a bike trip to Ethiopia. I had a film camera, and film was expensive, so I didn’t take very many pictures. (Digital cameras and smartphones hadn’t been invented yet.So strange to think about that.) And people were so inquisitive and so demanding, that it was impossible to write in my journal anywhere. I ended up recording my journal on tape. I thought I would transcribe those tapes later.
Well, it turned out that transcribing tapes is much more time-consuming than you’d think. It takes forever. So I never finished the job. However, I did transcribe a few of the tapes, and yesterday and today, I started reading through one of the transcripts. It covers the day that I rode my bike out of Addis Ababa, and reading it was like reading someone else’s journal. I hardly remember any of it. I remember bits and pieces, but that is about it.
I’ve often reflected lately on how bad memory is, and reading this transcript is more proof. And I wonder what the significance is. For example, I have the urge to do interesting things. But why? Why bother doing anything if you won’t remember it anyway? I did all kinds of interesting things in Ethiopia, but what does it matter? I don’t even remember doing them.
Sansa Clip – Have I Ever Managed to Fix Anything?
Have I ever managed to fix anything?
My life seems like an endless series of broken things. I try to fix them, and in the fixing, I destroy them. The latest in this long series is the Sansa Clip.
It was a great little MP3 player until suddenly it wasn’t. It was barely used, practically new, and the headphones started to crackle.
Movie Stupidities
Characters in movies do a lot of dumb things.
When good guys or bad guys pour out a can of gasoline and set fire to it, they always have a Zippo lighter. They never, like a normal person, have an ordinary lighter. They always have a Zippo. And they don’t lean down and light the fire and keep the lighter. They always throw the Zippo into …
VIDEO: It’s FREE!! But is it GOOD? A Torture Test of Kuala Lumpur’s GoKL Bus Service (GREEN LINE)
By riding on the GoKL Green Line (one of six lines in Kuala Lumpur’s free public transit bus system), I was heading into unfamiliar waters. The Green Line makes a loop from Bukit Bintang to the KLCC area and then back again. I’d been to KLCC a few times, but I always got there via the underground LRT system. And when I came above ground, …
VIDEO: TIGERS & ELEPHANTS AT KL TOWER – Hutan Kita Exhibition (“Our Forest”)
In the comments to another video, someone suggested that I check out the (free) Hutan Kita exhibition currently running at KL Tower here in Kuala Lumpur. After a quick Google Search and a realization that this was something I would enjoy, I made plans to go there.
Hutan Kita means “Our Forest” or perhaps “Our Rainforest.” The exhibit was put on by the Malaysian government and …