Takin' care of business

So I'm on the hunt for new writing work again.

It's always harrowing when I'm looking through "cold" projects because I don't always have that "in" that I'm looking for. However, it's kind of exciting to test my skills without any outside help, you know? Instead of getting by on freebies and handouts, it's cool to earn a columnist job or a guest post

I have a feeling I need to get my expertise on a few things up, though. This blog's gone without a niche for a long time because frankly I don't think it needs one: I use it for my musings and rants, and it serves that purpose just fine. However, when it comes to writing on other sites there's a need to kind of devote yourself to that topic; sometimes it's harder to put down other things and just throw yourself headlong into it.

I've applied to a couple sites that I really admire because they put out quality stuff, and frankly, it sounds a lot like my writing here. I don't mind not getting paid because I genuinely love to write and see my name up there on the byline; nothing's cooler than that.

But anyways, I'm business will pick up soon; anyone got any leads?

Text Messages and Slam Dunks

Couple things.

To the guy who accidentally texted me yesterday; thanks for brightening up my day. A bit of background: I lost my phone in Barrie a few weeks prior, and had no contacts on my new phone. As people text me I always have to do the awkward "who is this?" and feel horrible that I didn't add everyone back right away. This time, however, was different.

Around lunch I got a "that's an interesting story, lol" message. I responded with a "so, what's up?" to try and gauge if I could avoid embarassment. In response to that, I got a text saying "when are we meeting tonight?" This left me at an impasse. The jig was up, so to speak, and I found out that this was genuinely a wrong number, as well, I was not his ladyfriend. I wished him luck and he sent me this back. "Shouldn't have too many problems. Thanks for the high five, though."

I think this guy and me would've been friends if we knew each other. Heh.

Anyways, not much else to report in other news. Besides Patrick Chewing.


Facebook users are definitely going to want to click "View Original Post" to see the video.

Digg: Bitching Got Us Somewhere

So today media linking giant Digg decided to get a little too big for its britches, and like anything else that makes the same mistake on the Internet (well, except for companies with iPhone monopolies), it was quickly smacked down by its userbase.

In short, Digg did a "bait and switch", leading to a lot of shortened links leading to their own website instead of the target, which got people pissed; instead of the websites with the content getting traffic, Digg did instead. People bitched, partners withdrew, and Digg founder Kevin Rose backpedaled. Apparently he was on vacation for the past two weeks, and was very unhappy with the changes - or so says his Twitter.

I'm wondering how he expects us to believe that he has 100% say in what happens in the day-to-day operations of Digg's website. I mean, it's not like he left for two weeks, gave the reigns to a good friend of his, and then came back being like "WTF, man!"

Digg's annoyed me for the past little while, and I did what any annoyed person should do: I stopped using the site. It always irked me that because of algorithms within the site, people who have gotten stories on the front page are more likely to get them there again in the future. I mean, that kind of defeats the entire purpose of having a user opinion-generated frontpage when one user is more likely to have success than another. It didn't help that when I used the site I got people spamming my gmail asking me for Diggs in order to get their stuff on the front page; in turn, it would grant them "popularity" on Digg, traffic for whatever site they were linking and small amounts of traffic to their own personal sites if people decided to look at their profiles.

I don't know; I'm definitely not qualified enough to call Digg a flawed system, but that's my opinion, at least. Nothing crowdsourced online is perfect because there are ways to manipulate the system for those who're smart enough to put the effort in. I guess it's just a matter of wanting to be that person, or just one of the people who agree with them.

Netbooks for me; Time to start blogging from weird places

So yesterday I got my first piece of netbook bliss when my EeePC 1005HA came; I've been in the market for a new computer ever since I found out my old one was a piece of crap, and some consideration I thought a netbook was the smartest choice.


For the uninitiated, a netbook is a smaller laptop with a longer battery life. It's cheaper, but only because it isn't as graphically powerful as a normal laptop; it's meant for browsing and word processing - that's pretty much it.

Man, even as I'm typing this I remember why I hate laptops; every time my hand touches against the damned touchpad while I'm typing, the text cursor moves to where the mouse is pointed, leading me to start typing in the middle of a previous sentence.

It's maddening.

Anyways, since I assembled my own PC tower earlier in the year, I no longer have any need for a powerful laptop. However with a heavy weight and 2 hour battery life, my previous lappy wasn't cutting it in the world of 3 hour lectures; off it went to the graveyard of technology: the rest of my family.

Really, I'm just happy I have a new toy to mess around with. I shall soon conquer the world of mobile blogging, and looking like a hipster in coffee shops. More on that soon.

In our face, mortality

I know I made a post a couple months ago about a former classmate of mine who passed away, but today I had another brush with thoughts of mortality stemming from something a little more close to home.

Around November of this year I found out my mother had developed a tumour on her liver. Our family had never had any major history of tumours of any kind, and the only death I could remember was my great-grandmother succumbing to breast cancer when I was 5. When I heard the news I was... shaken, to say the least. After a number of biopsies and scans we found out that while the tumour wasn't cancerous, it had spread to her stomach and other organs.

Today was the first major surgery to remove most of the tumour, and I can say without a doubt that I will never get used to this feeling. Because my mom has issues with her blood and the beating speed of her heart, there was a chance that she could bleed out on the operating table and die; this fact was revealed to me well prior to the operation, and as a result I got numerous talks starting with "If something were to happen..." and ending with tears. Being the oldest child, I would be responsible for keeping my siblings in touch with each other (my sister and I have a different father than my brother) in the event we got split up. I would have enough money to pay for the rest of my time in university, but ultimately, I would be losing someone very dear to me.

Needless to say I was a wreck today. I had horrible feelings of dread which kept creeping up on me, subsiding, then catching me unawares when I least expected it. Every vibration of my cell phone or ring of my work phone made me think that I was getting the dreaded "something has gone wrong" phone call that would shatter my world.

But thanks to some very good friends and some healthy distraction in the form of (gasp) productivity, the time passed and I was gratified to find out that my mom was out of the recovery room and in a ward. Upon visiting her, she looked as comfortable as any person who had gone through a five-hour surgery would look. It was a bit disheartening, and since we don't have any idea of how successful the surgery was (thank you, invisible doctors!), there's still an air of uncertainty floating around my head.

I want her to be alright. I want my mom to grow old and be able to meet my kid, if I ever have one. I don't want her to be in pain anymore, and this surgery was one of many steps she has to take in order to get to that point.

Hopefully the rest of the road goes as well as this portion.

NXNE08: Liquid Swords Edition

It always figures that whenever I try to go somewhere it rains, literally and figuratively. My experience with the NXNE (North By Northeast) festival started when I heard about it earlier in the year from a few friends; I'm not an indie fan by any means, but I still like the chance to get out and explore some culture in the city.

I was a bit disappointed when I had checked the billing and found literally no one that I had recognized, but this was no fault of the promoters: I mean, why would they be blamed for my lack of insight into the independent music scene in this part of the country? My music tastes vary, and well, rest elsewhere.

However, NXNE is one of those events that bands seem to crawl out of the woodwork for, and really, it didn't disappoint in that respect. There was a HUGE number of people either performing or spectating, and if there's one thing I love, it's enthusiasm for a certain part of life. Getting to see fans lined up in the scattered showers that plagued the weekend to see their favourite bands was both a testament to their tenacity and frankly, a bit heartwarming. I mean, when do you see that kind of commitment anymore?

Contrasting the fans enthusiasm, I was prepared for a fairly apathetic attendance on my part, at least where the music is concerned; what I love about attending these events is the electricity you feel when you're just walking around and observing. You get to see so many different facets of this music community all in one place, meshing and conflicting with each other and producing some interesting conversation.

However, my apathy was to change when I got a certain e-mail. I would find myself suddenly hypocritically jumping with glee after constructing all these arguments in my head about why not being "THAT" into music wasn't a problem.

The Genius would be attending.

Gary Grice, GZA, The Genius; founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He would be interviewed in front of a roomful of eager fans, recounting legends of the Shaolin mythology and generally laying down some serious wisdom. I found it hard to contain myself.

Then I remembered that I should be professional.

GZA would be interview by Fab 5 Freddy, a well-respected figure in the hip-hop community and former graffiti artist; to be frank, I had no idea who he was before that festival. While both he and GZA sat in posh thrones upon a stage, he did what I was afraid he would do.

He asked questions that anyone could easily find the answer to.

While it's an unfair criticism to make because I'm a fan of the Wu-Tang Clan, I don't think it's that unreasonable; the purpose of asking a question is to find out information that is of use to you. I think Sean Connery said that in a movie once.

Anyways, softball questions aside, Freddy managed to get some lesser-known answers out of the Genius, like his acting experience with Bill Murray of Ghostbusters fame; this was good to hear, because not many people know about the more intelligent and methodical side of the 'Clan. GZA's a surprisingly good speaker, and he made some poignant points about the state of hip-hop and the lack of originality in today's artists - of course, you can take that with a grain of salt, depending on your tastes.

But to be realistic, I had some complaints. GZA was a full two hours late, and while I had nothing else to do that day, a guy sitting beside me by the name of Brian was on a tight schedule. He was a big fan and ended up sitting it out, but I don't think it was that fair to make people wait; Brian had met GZA at the hotel bar the night prior, so it wasn't like the rapper wasn't there already.

This tardiness was what kept me from checking out GZA's free show the following day at Yonge and Dundas Square; as a guy who needed to work on the Monday and therefore get a good night's sleep, risking waiting another two hours past GZA's starting time at 8pm wasn't something I wanted to risk.

All in all I think NXNE was a good experience, but to the uninitiated it can be a little daunting; I definitely need to plan out my route a little better next year to check out more of the films and keynote speeches; sadly this year I had to be a bit hasty. Check it out if you're in the GTA in the early summer months - nothing beats the sound of a funk guitar or a bass beat echoing off those busy streets.