Weblog Wannabe

WEBLOG WANNABE'S 2001 VERY SUBJECTIVE WEBLOG AWARD WINNERS

Here are the winners of this year's awards in 13 categories:

The Weblogger Most Likely To Kick Your Ass For Not Keeping Me Happy: Rebecca Jordan
If I ask you to do something, you'd better comply or she would kick your ass.

Best Use of Tilted images: Fairvue Central
Nikolai likes his images tilted. He likes it so much that I can count the number of untilted images on his site with my fingers.

Best Long-Haired Cam Person: Jordan Running
The cam is no longer running (no pun intended) but I could watch it for hours when it was on. Jordan has the silkiest hair ;)

Most Rarely Updated Weblog: Wanderer
Matt really needs to update his weblog. His last post is from October 18. Too bad weblogging is not high on his priority list.

Most Complementary Weblogs: RoughingIT and the NitBits
Well, they're a married couple, living in the same flat. Read both to get the full story.

Best Weblogger in America to Discuss Asian Culture With: Chun-shek
Chun-shek and I share pretty much the same culture. He understands what I'm talking about. He knows what it's like to live with mosquitoes.

The Webloggers Most Frequently Mistaken For Each Other (By Me): Graham and Morgan
I found their weblogs at around the same time and I used to mistake one for another all the time. Don't ask me why.

Best Link Supplier: Tim Ireland
Tim sent me the coolest and weirdest links. I don't know where or how he found them.

The Weblogger Most Likely To Send Me A Screenshot: Charlie Morrison
Everytime I ask for a screenshot in my weblog, Charlie will be the first to send me it. He once sent a ninja to kill me, but he's forgiven ;)

Best Weblog-Related Project I've Ever Made A Bet On: Yaysoft Weblog Directory
I said he wouldn't be able to finish the project until next year. Matt said he'd finish it before December. He won the bet.

Best Guest Blogger: Troy D'Hondt
Well, what can I say. He's the guest blogger who posts most frequently to this weblog.

Best Programmed, Short-Lived Weblog: any of Emlyn's weblogs
Emlyn is a good programmer and weblogger. How he couldn't keep his weblogs alive for more than a month is beyond me.

Most Frequent Visitor: Phil Ulrich
He used to visit my weblog very often, but now I think he's sobered up a bit ;)

The decision is final and not likely to change. Well, unless you're willing to pay all my debts then I'll consider changing it. Congratulations (I'm sorry) to all the winners. Keep up the good work! ♥

THE WEBLOG WANNABE'S 2001 HIGHLIGHTS

January 2001:
- Get nominated for the Bloggies in the Best Asian Weblog and Best New Weblog categories.

February 2001:
- Win the Bloggies in the Best Asian Weblog category (read the silly victory speech).
- Celebrate one year of blogging with an unfinished project.

March 2001:
- Am attending SxSW in Austin, Texas in spirit :)

April 2001:
- Swap designs with Fairvue on April Fools Day.
- Have yet another crappy birthday.
- The infamous Quack-O-Matic is born.

May 2001:
- My big brother gets married.
- My monitor decides that it's time to die. I've been using a borrowed, greyscalish monitor since.
- Several weblogs that I read regularly suffer from server breakdown. Mine is no exception.

June 2001:
- Move Weblog Wannabe to another domain on another server due to the problem with Dreamhost server and then move it to yet another domain on another server due to FTP problem, and finally move it back to this domain once Dreamhost server becomes stable.
- Fall in love with CSS-2 and redesign my weblog almost every day.
- Create my very first, silly blogging quiz: the Weblog Hipness Quiz. Here's the Metatalk thread about it.

July 2001:
- Ev mentions the Web Baby Project in the Blogger News, bringing thousands of visitors and hundreds of new submissions.
- Get a job in Singapore.
- Participate in the Blogathon. I sing and write haikus for 24 hours to raise fund for the World Wildlife Fund For Nature.

August 2001:
- Start Quack the Duck World Tour Project. Get over a hundred people around the world to host the stuffed duck. The project is currently on hold due to the lack of cash. Any sponsor?

September 2001:
- Come up with another silly but popular blogging quiz: Who Is Your Weblogger Twin?
- Much anger caused by the terrorist attacks on September 11 and some people's views after the attacks.

October 2001:
- Quit my job.
- Unintentionally bring Weblogs.Com server down with a line of code.
- Say goodbye to Bloggerville, only to return a couple of days later.

November 2001:
- Come up with the most popular blogging quiz ever: Are You A Blogaholic? Here's the Metatalk thread and the Metafilter thread about it. (Special thanks to Matt and Matt for the hosting.)
- Propose Graham to marry me. He turns it down. How sad.
- Finally learn what PHP is short for after using it for about a year.

December 2001:
- Fail to get an employment pass to work in Singapore.
- Put up my blogging quiz site and another weblogging quiz that's strangely more popular among LiveJournallers than webloggers: Are You As Interesting As Your Weblog?
- Have my very first date.
- Penniless, jobless, and hopeless. Soon to lose my internet access. Not a very good ending to an eventful year.

Last year's highlights can be found here. It's much shorter than this one. What's your most favourite moment of 2001? ♥

Monday Morning Haiku

A rainy morning
The sparrows are flying still
Were I them, I would.

The rain is getting harder. I hope the sparrows have found a nice, dry place where they can wait for the rain to stop. Not that I want the rain to stop. Once it stops, it will get really hot again. I don't think I would like it. Now if only Mother Nature would listen to me.

I did some tweaking to the comment form and Quack-O-Matic. Now both of them support line break and url to hyperlink conversions. And I finally got around to adjusting the timestamp to reflect DST. If you want to know what time is it now in my part of the world, all you have to do is post a comment or a quack :)

I feel like redesigning, but with this greyscalish monitor, I don't think I could. Bummer. Not that it would stop me from trying. No, Siree! I'm not that easily beaten.

Anyway, later today I'm going to post the Weblog Wannabe 2001 Highlights and the winners of the very subjective Weblog Wannabe awards. Stay tuned! ♥

Which Beatle are you? According to the quiz results, the member of the Beatles I'm most like is Ringo Starr, which is strange because I answered the questions with John Lennon in mind. ♥

Humans for Dummies contains humorous lessons in understanding humans, specially written for computer geeks. Learn the lessons and be rich and famous like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Or something. I know I could use this. ♥

You need a very good memory not to get killed in I'm Going To Kill You, which is a Shockwave game where you have to cut the wires exactly as instructed or the bomb will explode. It's not really as easy as it sounds. ♥

Saturday Evening Haiku

Been a blah weekend
My weekends have always been
and will always be.

Blah, that is. And it's so hot, hot, hot! I wish someone would send me a ticket to any freezing cold region of the world. My passport won't expire until 2006 *hint, hint!* Hmm. I don't even know what to write anymore. I haven't had much going on lately, apart from you know what. My life is that boring. Well, better get on to serious blogging before I bore you to death. ♥

Vote one of these men who look like Kenny Rogers to be Kenny of the Year at the Kenny of the Year Poll. I can't decide between Kenny #1 and Kenny #6. ♥

Just enter a verb in any of the 50+ languages listed into WebVerbix and it will conjugate the verb for you. Very handy. ♥

Play pranks on your friends using the Celebrity Sound Boards. Just make a phone call and when your victim answers, play the soundboard. Yeah, kinda old trick. ♥

Which Kevin Smith Female Character Are You? I'm Bethany from Dogma, "the epitome of the Prozac poster child". Right. Whatever. ♥

If you have sweaty palms, you might want to try to built a MouseFan, which is a mouse with a tiny fan inside. I would love to have one. ♥

Friday Night Haiku

The rain has failed to
Make the day any cooler
Wish it hadn't rained.

Well, I didn't go anywhere today because of the rain so the day was pretty much boring. There really is nothing worth writing about. Anyway, since I'm already sleepy and I'm feeling rather blah, I'll just do some quick blogging. Please excuse the lack of witticism and commentary. ♥

Sorry for the lack of linkage today. It's been a slow blogging day. If I don't blog tomorrow, that would be because I'm too tired after another date, because from I gathered from the first one, a date is made up of a lot of walking around the mall, a very long queue for movie tickets, several visits to record stores, and drinking gallons of bottled water. Oh, and lots of sweating and very little talking. ♥

Miss taking all those silly online tests already? Of course you do. Here's one: which pop icon are you? According to the test results, I'm Captain Kirk. Well, it could've been worse. I could've been Britney Spears *shudders* ♥

If you're a Chicagoan and you wish to do a different kind of birdwatching, you might want to join the Chicago Area Plastic Bird Watchers Association. From what I can see in the pictures, the birdwatchers seem to be having a lot of fun with all those plastic pink flamingoes. ♥

Do the Funky Chicken! If you took me to the dance floor, I think I'd end up doing the funky chicken. I'm a natural funky chicken dancer and I have no shame. That explains why no one ever took me to the dance floor. Heh. But seriously, I'd do the funky chicken anywhere if anyone dared me to do so. ♥

One can't help but wonder what on earth four of my posts are doing on Daypop Top 40 (on the 2001-12-26 18:00:00 update) when there's no one linking to them but myself. Curious. Very curious. ♥

Thursday Morning Haiku

The sky is greyish
But the sun is shining bright
Another hot day.

Well, I'm posting this using NewsPHP while Blogger is having security issues. It wasn't the reason I didn't post yesterday, though. I was just too tired after going shopping for presents all morning with my mum and then going on a date with an old friend from college all afternoon. We got to see that Harry Potter movie and it was good. I didn't get home until 8:30pm. I did go online then and had a chat with Rebecca whose neighbourhood was burning with bush fires. I haven't seen her online today so I'm kind of worried about her well-being since the fire was approaching her house last time I heard from her. Hey Reb, give me a shout when you're online! ♥

Learn how to say "Merry Christmas" in 25 languages. In Indonesian language, it would be "Selamat Hari Natal". ♥

Santa: The Scientific Approach is a classic. I can't remember if I've blogged this last year, but here it is anyway. I'm sure this has been blogged halfway around the world but what the heck. I'm too sleepy to find any original link :P ♥

If you haven't got your presents, you might want to track where Santa is and see what's holding him. Apparently, Malaysia is the only place in Southeast Asia that's in his itinerary. ♥

If your monitor wasn't greyscalish like mine, I think you'd do just fine at The Christmas Tree Game. It's all about placing the right decoration at the right place on the Christmas tree. [Hat tip to Jordan, whose site you should visit for all the thoughts on strip clubs and porn sites.] ♥

Tuesday Evening Haiku

A merry Christmas
To everyone who chooses
To celebrate it!

Well, another holiday has passed and tomorrow I'll have to start worrying about getting a call from my ISP again for not having paid my internet bills for two months. I haven't used my ISP account for a couple of days now even though they haven't blocked it. I've been using the super slow connection provided by the phone company, which is better than nothing, mind you. On second thought, I'll be away from home most of the day tomorrow so I guess it might not turn up to be such a bad day after all :)

Anyway, since it's Christmas, the blogging theme of the day would be Christmas. Let's see if I could find anything Christmassy that hasn't been blogged halfway around the world. ♥

Okay, this is the last link for today since I'm already very sleepy despite the many hours of sleep I had today: 15 Most Influential Video Games of All Time. If you know and have played all the games mentioned there, you truly are a hardcore gamer. ♥

Pedestrian Killer is a really silly Flash game in which you have to hit as many pedestrians as possible with your car in a given time. The given time was really short. I could only kill 9 pedestrians at most. I wonder how the top scorers could score some three digit numbers in this game in such a short time. ♥

Videogame Music Archive stores more than 8,000 downloadable game music MIDI files. For some reasons, my computer refuses to play any MIDI file. I guess it knows just how annoying they can be and it refuses to play it to save me from the frustration they may cause. Smart computer. ♥

Zany Video Game Quotes is a collection of phrases from video games. Some of them are quite amusing. You know, I think I would enjoy working as a proofreader in the gaming industry. But then again, if there were proofreaders in the gaming industry, the AYBABTU meme probably wouldn't have existed. ♥

One way to break a blogger's block is to blog about one particularly stupid topic to the max. Or so Rebecca told me. I'm going to do just that today, and the topic (which is not particularly stupid, espeically for gamers) is video/computer games.

The first link is to one of those silly online quizzes: What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Are You? I'm a Breakout Bat. Not being a gamer, I have no idea what that means. ♥

Monday Morning Haiku

My head is aching
From too much of sleeping time
Have to stay up late.

I wasn't going to blog today because I was in a bad mood, but then an old friend -- one of my best friends from college -- called and we talked for almost an hour. Well, actually he did most of the talking. I just said "uh-huh" and "really?" occasionally. I guess that explains why I don't get phone calls very often. Heh. Anyway, we're planning to meet up some time this week for lunch. He'll call me again tomorrow for the exact time and date. He usually forgets, so he probably won't call me tomorrow, but hey, his call today already made my day. He deserves a post in my blog for that :) ♥

I've been trying to play Kung Fu Chess for a couple of days now, but every time I always got abandoned by my opponent. It's not my fault if my connection is so slow. Let's see if I'll have a better luck this time. ♥

Now that you're home for the holidays, you might want to make your Christmas lights sound controlled using a WinAmp visualization plugin. It sounds like a fun holiday project. I wonder how the Christmas lights would behave when a death metal song was being played. ♥

Hell.com's Soul Repurchase Program: "everyday of your life you have sold a little piece of your soul. if you want to get some of it back ...you have to start somewhere." Well, I don't need to join the program. I already repurchased mine by quitting my last job, and boy, was it expensive. ♥

According to The SNL Losers Quiz, the SNL loser I'm most like is Anthony Michael Hall. I had no idea who he was so I did a little research. Turned out that he was a member of the Brat Pack and he played Bill Gates in "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (1999), a film chronicling the history of Apple and Microsoft with Noah Wylie playing as Steve Jobs. Interesting. Has anyone seen that film? ♥

If I had $40 to spend, I'd love to adopt a penguin at the San Francisco Zoo. It would also make a great gift since the adoptee or the person you adopt the penguin for will receive an adoption package with a lot of cool stuff in it. ♥

Saturday Night Haiku

What a hot, hot day!
Winter Solstice is no fun
In the equator.

Well, I'm only going to do a quick blogging tonight to ease some guilt. I'm still feeling blah and there seems to be no consolation for me. I did some job searching online today but found no job that I was qualified to apply. I even gave in and searched for some library jobs as well, but there was none. When I did find some, they were either in the UK or USA. There's no way I could apply for those jobs. I'm getting really, really desperate now. Sigh. ♥

Not many things can cheer me up more than blogging :) ♥

9x9 is supposed to be this cool maze game that I'd enjoy playing. Unfortunately, I couldn't see enough of the game interface with my greyscalish monitor to be able to play it so I have to rely on you to tell me if the game is really cool or not. Well, is it? ♥

Hey, I just got a big bear hug from a teddybear! The bear was so cute it made me smile. Still I wish I could get a real hug from a living human. I desperately need one. Sigh. ♥

According to the Evil Test, I'm only 15% evil. It's a bit higher than I expected, though. Must be because the "Have you ever killed an animal?" question. I've no choice but to kill all those mosquitoes every night because otherwise I'd run out of blood by the time the morning comes! It's not evil; it's self-defense! ♥

Esquire magazine's What I've Learned: God is somewhat amusing. Among the things they've learned is that God still can't tell the difference between Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton. Well, guess what? I can! But seriously, Bill Paxton [photo] and Bill Pullman [photo] don't look any more alike than me and, say, Julia Roberts. ♥

Design Your Own O'Reilly Book Cover, print it out, show it to your friends and family members and tell them that you've finally got a book published. It's the next best thing to really get your own book published. I wonder how long till O'Reilly folks ask them to take the site down. ♥

I just got a notice from my ISP telling me that they're going to cut of my access tomorrow because I haven't paid my bill (and I can't see myself paying any bill until I get a job since I've no one to give me a loan and there's no such thing as social security here) so expect less updates from tomorrow on. Once they cut off my access, my email address might not work anymore, so if you want to contact me, try firda at catharsis dot org.

Are you sure you have no job for me? I'm willing to do HTML work or internet research or help you develop a website for a few bucks, just to keep me online. ♥

Is it just me or is the world's funniest joke not all that funny? It's funny, but it's not really world-class funny. Not that I can think of anything that's world-class funny. Can you? ♥

Reindeer Game is yet another frustrating but addicting game that I suck at. I played the reindeer wannabe side but could only sink three elitist reindeers, which was not enough to win. So sad. ♥

I just played the Penalty Shooting game. While the game is quite addicting, it seems to be impossible for me to score because the goalkeeper is too good. Well, either that or I just plain suck. ♥

Want to read something interesting? Check out the Lies You Can Read in Newsweek. Make sure you appreciate the art of sarcasm before you start reading. ♥

Rocklopedia Fakebandica lists all the fictional bands and singers from TV and movies. Hmm. I didn't know O-Town was a fake band. I thought it was a genuine boyband. I remember seeing their videos on MTV. But maybe a boyband isn't what they'd call a band. ♥

Why do men tend to get fat once they're married? ♥

People are so paranoid. After reading all the fuss about getting visitors from .mil domain at Metafilter, I have to say that not only do I get readers from the said domain, I also got a really nice email from one. So there. Hi, Jack! :) ♥

I've been having a lot of issues with Trillian, or Trillian has been having a lot of issues with me. Whatever. Patrick told me that he never saw me online when I've been online almost all the time lately. Well, if you want to message me but you don't see me online at the time I'm usually online, don't believe it. Message me anyway. If you recently requested for authorisation to add me into your ICQ contact list but you still haven't received my authorisation, blame it also on ICQ/Trillian unreliable system. Feel free to re-request. If you were on my ICQ contact list or I'm on yours but you haven't messaged me since I converted to Trillian, you'll have to message me first to show up on my Trillian buddy list.

I'm so tempted to dump Trillian and go back to my trusty AIM, but I've uninstalled crappy ICQ and wouldn't re-install it even if my life depended on it. Also, I still want to keep in touch with Jordan, Rebecca, and Troy, all of whom would only talk to me on ICQ, so I'm kinda stuck here in instant messaging hell. Sigh. ♥

Ack! I got 8 out of 50 wrong in the Spelling Test. Oh well. At least I know how to spell caffeine (no, it's not in the test, which is a shame). My only excuse is, English is just an adopted language for me. I like being bilingual, but it's no fun when you know the English word for something but can't remember the Indonesian word and you ask your mother about it and she calls you a snob. My mum is mean that way *sniff!* ♥

Thursday Morning Haiku
Firda needs haiku.
Here I am to provide her
Aren't I just awesome?

I'd like to be congratulated on nailing another nail into the coffin of the english language. :) Anyhow, shouldnt the first post of the day be a haiku? Whats happened to the Wannabe's standards? ♥

Personality tests on the Internet now reveal things we didn't know about ourselves. Um yeah. I didn't know that I was fish on a bicycle. But seriously, unless the quiz was created by experts, I would just laugh at the results. ♥

If I were a DJ, my DJ name would be DJ Burnt Toast. I kind of like it. It sounds very much like me. ♥

The Domestic Cat and the Law: A Guide to Available Resources provides some interesting facts about the legal status of domestic cats. It was mentioned that in the Middle Ages, cats were considered "the embodiment of the devil and a symbol of heresy". I'm sure some people still agree with that view today ;) ♥

A Girlfriend's Guide To Online Pornography is rather amusing. But then again, I've always found porn-related things amusing. This part hits close to home: "When I was growing up, I caught site of a few of my brother's Playboys, and they were Mother Goose compared to what's on the World Wide Web. I now know more about sex with horses than I ever wanted to know." ♥

E-cyclopedia's glossary of 2001 lists words and phrases made popular by this year's major events. Among others: "box-cutter", "daisy-cutter", and "Jordan". Hey Jordan, you're famous! ♥

Sheep Pick is a strangely addictive, mindless, little game. Just hit a key when you see a sheep by the road and you'll get a point. Can't get any more mindless than that. ♥

Wednesday Night Haiku

It was a hot day
It's still one hot, humid night
I hate the weather.

I wasn't going to blog because I've been feeling really blah, but I couldn't stand the guilt. Yes, I feel guilty if I don't blog for a day. Just shoot me. So here I am. I'm not sure I'd be able to find anything blogworthy, but it's worth trying.

I've been working on a really silly project since yesterday. I'm not sure if I should release it or not. I only enjoy writing the php code to make the project work. Coding makes me happy.

Speaking of coding, I have a question for php geeks. Which one is better: "echo" or "print" and why? Let me know, 'kay? ♥

Have you ever wished you could go back to your mother's womb and start your life all over again? Well, with Alter Ego, you can. It's an interesting life simulation game. I still haven't passed childhood, but luckily I can always continue the game anytime I want. I think it's going to take hours to finish this game. I can't wait to see what kind of person I'm going to turn up to be! ♥

Snowbowling is such a frustrating game. My highest score was a lousy 182. My aim is not very good. I guess it's a good thing I'm not a man. Er, nevermind. ♥

Yes or no? ♥

If you want to make sense of Windows, you should take a look at Windows source code. It's quite enlightening.
[via Billegible] ♥

Speaking of dreams, Nikolai logged his Dreams of November. They are just as weird as mine. He already told me about the second dream involving a song from the band Arkarna. I'm Indonesian and I was the one who introduced the song to him, but I didn't know that he thought Arkarna was an Indonesian band :P

Nik, if you listened to one of their older songs called "Govinda" (that I think you would like, but might bring back memories of your old Indian neighbour), you'd think Arkarna is an Indian band *grins*

(Arkarna is a British band.) ♥

Tuesday Afternoon Haiku

It's been a hot day
I wonder where the rain's gone
It's partly cloudy.

I had a weird dream last night. In my dream, I was chatting with Rebecca but then she told me that she had to go swimming. I saw the clock and it showed 9PM, which made it 1AM Rebecca's time, and I thought to myself, what was Rebecca doing swimming at 1AM, in the Blue Mountains no less?

And then I found myself in an industrial-looking playground with a lot of swings. I saw some kids climbing the swing ropes. It was some sort of a competition. The one who reached the top first won. I just had to try it myself, but before I got around to climbing the rope, I woke up.

I think the dream was heavily influenced by the films "Matilda" and "Gattaca" that I watched on TV yesterday. If I had to have a celebrity crush because my life depended on it, Ethan Hawke would be it ;) ♥

Somebody leave a comment or I'll break down and cry out of loneliness! *sniff!* And I don't want to hear that silly "we're too shy" excuse again. ♥

Throwaball allows you to throw a ball against the rule of gravity. Yeah, I know all those silly online bowling games do that too, but this one is different. Gravity can be a beautiful thing. If that makes any sense. ♥

What is fun?

Ceaseless activity, usually of the meaningless variety. What we're all supposed to be having. In America, fun for women is synonymous with shopping, and fun for men is synonymous with spectator sports. No wonder most Americans aren't very interesting.

Hey, I didn't say that. I was just quoting Dr. Contrarian's Guide to the Universe. Sue them, not me! ;P ♥

Celebrate Techmas by singing some Techmas Carols, such as "12 Days of (Microsoft Christmas", "God Rest Ye Copland Programmers" and "'Twas the Night Before Implementation". ♥

Project S.A.N.T.A. looks like a fun game. I think you're supposed to drop Christmas gifts into chimneys or something. I'm not so sure because you just can't see much with my silly greyscale monitor. ♥

I was so bored, I scored 665 in Juggle Mania. I only played it with 3 objects, though. I think it would be more challenging with more objects, but I haven't tried it. I would, but my hand is already showing some signs of carpal tunnel syndrome. ♥

Monday Afternoon Haiku
It is early here,
But not so where Firda is.
This fact hurts my brain.

There, a haiku. I haven't done THAT in a while. In other news--notice how the art test's been down for a while? Sure you have. Are you looking for a suitable spoof of it? Sure you are. Am I plugging something I created myself? Sure I am.

What is it? It's The Stock Photography Quiz. My results can be found on my weblog.

<inspiration-for-quiz src="Firda"> ♥

Have some fun with stylesheet by applying one site's stylesheet on another site. The results can be interesting, or just plain ugly. ♥

Hmm, I didn't know that Site Meter could automatically add a counter to your Blogger template. I still like Nedstat better, though. Sure it has some annoying popup ads but IMO, it produces a cleaner report and has a slicker interface than Site Meter. ♥

I know someone who's once met a real life ninja. Well, a retired one anyway. He told me some pretty interesting stories about the life of a ninja as told by the retired ninja. The Official Ninja Homepage has no such story, but it's still worth a visit for its silliness. ♥

I scored 28 in the Autism-Spectrum Quotient or AQ Test. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. Hmm. I guess I'm close to being an autist. Why didn't it surprise me? ♥

Sunday Morning Haiku

Happy Eid to you
And happy Eid to me too
I am home alone!

The whole family is at the football field with the entire neighbourhood for the Eid prayer. I'm staying at home because I woke up late. That means, I'll have to prepare the table and the food for the big meal in about, uh, 5 minutes. Ack!

Anyway, here I am, blogging the free few minutes I have this morning away. I'm enjoying a cup of tea and a jar of rock-hard, burnt Snow White cookies we baked a couple of days ago. And having a nice chat with Jordan.

But now I've really got to go. Be back in a couple of hours! ♥

Multipurpose singer is an A.I. that will write and sing you a random Christmas carol or a Barry White cameo that you can download. It's hilarious! You really should try this. ♥

Cold Reading and Psychic Techniques or how someone could know so much about you without ever meeting you. You know what's funny? I already used some of these techniques to create silly online quizzes. Heh. ♥

Learn how to get rid of Flash of Unstyled Content (FOUC) or the momentary flash of unstyled page content that usually occurs on pages that use the CSS @import rule in the Windows version of MS Internet Explorer. I need to apply this hack on my quiz page. ♥

If I were a Living Dead Doll, I'd be Damien, the evil boy from The Omen. Eh. Didn't Santa just say that I was nice? ♥

Get a sneak preview of what Santa Claus has written about you on his Naughty or Nice List by entering your name to the Nice-O-Meter. Apparently, I'm just "Nice". I was expecting to get "Super Nice" or at least "Very Nice". Oh well. At least I haven't been naughty ;) ♥

I feel like redesigning. I think I'm going to recycle an old design of mine (the blue and green one from last year; some long-time readers might still remember it) and make it tableless. I liked that design quite a bit and I kind of miss it. ♥

Saturday Morning Haiku

Big Cooking Day is
Not half as exciting as
Cookie Baking Day.

It used to be, but not anymore. Probably because I don't get to pluck the dead chicken's feathers anymore. Plus, my mum, who's always been my partner-in-crime every Big Cooking Day, is sick. But I'll probably bake a pineapple pie this afternoon.

Anyway, if the rain falls today, I'm going to run to the driveway to feel the rain falling down on me and I'm going to ask my brother to take a picture of me right there. I want to recreate that favourite picture of mine, taken exactly today 4 years ago.

I've been told that I look best in the pouring rain :) ♥

According to The Eighties Pop Act Test, the eighties band I'm most like is The Smiths, which I thought was from the seventies. Anyway, this part of the description is somewhat accurate: "... people thought it was cool to be your friend, but they never really wanted to spend time with you." How true. ♥

Coincidence Design will arrange "coincidences" for you so you could get to meet that woman to whom you've been too shy to say hello just often enough to make her start talking to you. And they charge, oh, only several thousand dollars. I wonder if this thing is for real. ♥

Anyone in Greater Chicago area wanna bid for a cat bite? This "item" has got a couple of bidders already. I'm not really sure who's sillier: the cat owner or the bidders. ♥

Friday Afternoon Haiku

Cookie Baking Day
We baked a lot of yummy
Delicious cookies.

Well, some of the cookies were burnt and some other stuck to the baking pan, but we had a lot of fun. It would've been more fun if the aunt would stay away from us and let us have our fun instead of being around all the time to criticise everything we did, but hey, you just can't have it all.

It's been raining all day today. I like it. I hope the rain will fall every day until I get tired of it. If ever. ♥

I couldn't see the DeskDuck because I didn't have Quicktime installed, but I found the Q&A rather amusing. If you can see the duck, do tell me what it's like. ♥

Emlyn sent me a link to the Automatic Flatterer. He said I deserved its warm cuddliness more than most people. That was more flattering than anything the Automatic Flatterer said :) ♥

I really need to learn to empty my inbox (and keep it empty). Mind you, I'm a hoarder. I keep everything, even old, stale emails. I actually have 2 years' worth of emails in my inbox. Surely I'm not the only one? ♥

Eeek! I have several of the 58 signs of abduction by UFOs or aliens. Must contact Mulder and Scully right away. Anyone know their number? ♥

Ten Poets Named Like Porn Stars. I don't think they're named like porn stars *puts on a halo above my head* Maybe I need to throw my mind into the gutter first to get the joke. ♥

So I was bored, and decided to do a little spring cleaning on my computer. I got some extra free space on my hard disk and thought, hey, let's install Trillian! It would be fun! So I did. And now I think I'm lost :( How do you make your ICQ Contact List show up anyway? The AIM Buddy List does show up, but not the ICQ Contact List, and the Help file didn't help at all. Help? ♥

Thursday Afternoon Haiku

I'm feeling so weak
I think I am getting sick
But I hope I'm not.

Hopefully, it's only because I changed my sleep pattern. I shouldn't have done so. My body doesn't react too well to changes. Not even to the change of weather. The night and day temperatures have differred quite significantly these last couple of days. Could be another reason why I'm feeling sick.

Tomorrow is Cookie Baking Day in Firdaland! I can hardly wait. The kitchen is going to smell so good. Mmmm.... I can almost smell the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies. Mmmm... I wish it was tomorrow already! :) ♥

I found the link to blogdex's social network explorer at Graham's yesterday before it was removed on the blogdex people's request, but apparently it's been sorta officially released today. It's really cool, but the weblog recommendation feature kinda makes me wonder. ♥

According to the Temple ov thee Lemur's Personality Profile Test, I'm an unlovable, uncommunicative, know-it-all, bossy, egomaniac jerk. My rating of human being is 1% and the person/character whom I most resemble is Barney the dinosaur. Lovely. ♥

It might be small and ugly, but it's first. America's first website celebrates its 10th anniversary today. Here are the first web pages. ♥

Look at grandma's new computer! But seriously, if I still had a grandma and I had money to buy her a computer, I'd buy her something better than that. I miss my grandma. She understood me like no other. ♥

Single Pixel Webcam doesn't produce very interesting image, but it sure has some pretty amusing technical details. (Please note that what's amusing for me might not be amusing for you and vice versa.) ♥

Dear Jordan,

I'm sorry but ICQ was being evil and wouldn't let us talk.
May we have better luck next time.

Love, Firda ♥

Wednesday Morning Haiku

It's raining! Woohoo!
Rain always makes me happy
Well, almost always.

It's not even 5AM yet right now, but I just have to post this to share you the news about the rain :) Mind you, it's been weeks since the last time it rained. I just opened up my window so I could smell the rain and boy, does it smell good. I wonder if snow smells as good.

Now I can sleep peacefully. ♥

20 years of Usenet archives dating back from May 12, 1981 are now available on Google Groups. You can check out the first posts detailing the World Wide Web, Linux and Mosaic as well as other memorable moments such as the first mention of Microsoft and Madonna, first thread about AIDS, and first post by an AOL user here. It's a pretty interesting read. ♥

Hitchikers Project is a project that proves that if you put a plywood cutout version of yourself, put a sign around its neck that says the name of the place you want it to go (along with the address), and stick it out by the road, there's a possibility that it'll really get to the address. ♥

Catapult Watch, anyone? "Use it to "wake-up" those sleepy headed co-workers and classmates. When they look around to see who's been pelting them with spitballs, you'll just be casually checking the time." Sounds like fun. ♥

Someone says, "End The Personality Test Meme Now!" But do we really need to? A meme will die once people have grown tired of it. And trust me, they will. ♥

Which Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics are you? According to the test, I am J.-P. Serre's Linear Representations of Finite Groups. I'm not quite sure what that means. Hmm. Maybe I should ask Graham. [And he so kindly answered.] ♥

Tuesday Afternoon Haiku

Still two days to go
Till the Cookie Baking Day
Love, Cookie Monster.

Um, nevermind. It's just that we bought 4kg of flour today because my sister-in-law and I will be on a two-day cookie baking mission to save The Big Day, starting Friday. We're going to bake three kinds of cookies: Snow Whites, Cheese Fingers, and Pineapple Tartlets. It's going to be either fun or a disaster. Let's just wait and see.

I was napping all afternoon because I only got some three hours of sleep last night. I did go to bed early but I couldn't sleep. Luckily, the 'flu that was killing me yesterday was gone when I woke up this early morning. That was awesome. I really admire my immune system.

It's not 6PM yet but the mosquitoes have started their nightly raid. I hate them. ♥

Strategic guide to strategic strategy-building is a must read for every strategicisthyzer. Follow it, and "you too will be able to impress venture capitalists, financial analysts and that little old lady who lives next door." ♥

I've no idea what Camarilla is, but this Camarilla Test told me that I am Nosferatu. "They are eavesdropers and sneaks extraordinaire, and always know exactly what is going on." Sounds about right. Well, I'm not an eavesdropper nor a sneak, but I always know exactly what is going on ;) ♥

According to Memento Morty:



I don't know if it's good or bad. ♥

Ascii Aerobics™ is indeed the ultimate online workout. Put your mouse aside. Let your fingers do the talking. Fun! And odd, too. ♥

Well, the trip to the train station uptown wasn't half as fun as I thought. There was traffic jam everywhere and it was hot like hell (my brother's car had no air conditioning). The only fun thing was watching my brother as he was trying hard to avoid all the TV cameramen and their television cameras at the train station (there were plenty of them since it was holiday season) because he was worried his boss would see him on TV and would question his absence. Mind you, he told his boss that he was sick today. And he's going to buy a certificate of illness from a clinic tomorrow to prove it. Oh yeah, you can buy just about anything here. ♥

Seven Samurai (Minus Three) is a very amusing game that tests how fast you react to sword attacks from the samurai. My description really doesn't do it justice. You just got to play it. The game is called "Seven Samurai (Minus Three)" because there really are only four samurai there. I like their sense of humour :) My score? 640. I rock! Tell me yours. ♥

Monday Morning Haiku

For today's haiku
Please check yesterday's haiku
Thank you very much.

Well, today I'm going to go to the train station with my brother to pick up the aunt, which should be fun and should make a nice time killer. I love spending time with my big brother. He always makes me laugh. The only downside is he's a lousy driver. He always scares the hell out of me with the way he drives.

I'm chatting with Matt's sister right now. She's fun. Hi, Talia! :)

Hmm, still about 75 minutes before I have to go. Let's see if I could find something interesting enough to blog. ♥

Top 5 signs that you've been in Bloggerville too long:

1. You see links that you blogged ages ago making the round again.
2. You used to dream of becoming a Pyrate.
3. SxSW actually means something to you.
4. You remember BLOAT! and Beebo ratings.
5. You notice that some A-List popular webloggers don't have much to say anymore.

Did I miss anything? ♥

Which Obscure Website Are You? I'm the Billboard Liberation Front website. I remember blogging it ages ago. The description? I am quite the rebel and blah blah blah. Well, at least they're right about the rebel part. ♥

Penguin Bounce 2 is a pretty addicting Shockwave game. It's like a combination of Pong and Penguin Panic. I managed to score 178. Would've scored better hadn't my mouse been acting up. ♥

Mr. Asciihead learns the Macarena is an interesting ascii animation done in javascript. It would make a great 5k contest entry. ♥

Weblog Angst is an ugly thing. ♥

"North American scientists have discovered the longest bird penis ever - a 42.5cm organ belonging to a duck." I just knew there was something about ducks. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made it my weblog's mascot. Heh.

*blinks*

I am such a lame duck. ♥

You know what's silly? Today is Sunday instead of Monday *looks down at the haiku*

Damn my brother for ruining the illusion. He told me that he was going to call in sick tomorrow so he could pick up the aunt at the train station. "I thought the aunt was coming today," I said. "Today is Monday, isn't it?" And brother said, "Tomorrow is Monday, silly. Today is Sunday." I didn't believe him until I consulted the date/time thingy on the systray and found that today was really Sunday. Stupid me.

But since I like the haiku entry, I'm not going to change it. Just deal with it! :P ♥

Monday Morning Haiku

It's Monday again
The only time I'm happy
I don't have a job.

Not many things are better than staying at home on a Monday :) I pity those who have to go to work today. Mwahahaha!!! And that's about the only happy thought for today.

Bah. Some 1,500 of people came to my site yesterday and only one of them cared enough to leave a comment. Where has your love for me gone, folks? *sniff!*

And you just know you're having a bad day when "Fade" by Staind is stuck in your head. "I just needed someone to talk to / You were just too busy with yourself / You were never there for me to / Express how I felt / I just stuffed it down..."

Man, am I depressing or what? I'll try to be a bit more cheerful the next time I post. I promise. ♥

Can anyone tell me how to pass level 8 of My Car Game, possibly with a screen shot? I know it's cheating, but I'm really desperate. I'm stuck at that level, and I refuse to move along to the next level without finishing level 8 first. ♥

Bill Gates: 'My computer crashes too'. I don't know what to say about this. Oh, scratch that. I do know what to say. One word: DOH! ♥

If you're really bored, you can try making the Funky Monkeeeeeee do some silly dancing moves. All you have to do is move your mouse over the dance pad. It's fun for about 2 minutes. ♥

Risking getting a kick in the face from a certain martial artist (and yeah, I actually asked for it), I blogged this silly quiz: Which Clinton 'Ho Are You? I'm Gennifer Flowers. Nice to meet you. But seriously, Clinton is not my type. I dislike politicians in general. ♥

Beat the Dictionary is a variation of the Hangman game. See how many words you can guess before all nine pieces of the dictionary cover fall in. I could only guess, uh, one. But then again, I'm not a native English speaker :P ♥

Saturday Afternoon Haiku

It's such a hot day
The fan is working top speed
Not any less hot.

I have a couple of ideas for web projects, but when it's hot like this, I just don't feel like doing anything. I miss the rain already. This time of year, it usually rains a lot, but it's been over a week since the last time the rain fell.

Anyway, my mum is cooking my favourite food for dinner, which is nice. She's been trying hard to cheer me up ever since she learned about my not getting the employment pass. I wish I could tell my mum everything, but she's already had a lot problems as it is. I don't want to trouble her mind even more by telling her mine. I'll just have to deal with mine alone, as always.

Come on, Firda. You're a strong, smart, resourceful, creative girl. You can do it! ♥

LiveJournal's Meme Tracker is pretty interesting. It lists a bunch of memes that are spreading around the LiveJournal community, and inevitably, a gazillion of online quizzes. ♥

I've had some discussions with a friend about how a guy would react if a female friend of his told him that she had a crush on him. My friend thinks the guy would feel flattered and would continue being friends with her. I think they guy would get scared away and would start avoiding her. Now guys, I'd like to know how you would react if you found yourself in such situation:

A. Feel flattered and keep on being friends.
B. Get scared away and start avoiding her.
C. Either. It depends on how hot she is.
D. Other (please elaborate).

Please do participate. Anonymous response is welcome. (I am genuinely curious!) ♥

According to the Stud Test, I'm a total wuss for scoring a measly 10.5. Whatever. How studly are you? ♥

Test your understanding of color meanings and the emotions it arouses by playing Color Jeopardy with your host, Alex Tricolor! ♥

Guide To Banging Your Head Into A Wall. Need I say more? (Well, actually I do, but I'm way too sleepy for that. I'll be looking forward to some genius to come up with a weblog link description generator.) ♥

Friday Night Haiku

Exams are coming!
I do not want to study!
I hope I do well.

No, I have no exams but Matt, who wrote the haiku, does. I'm sure many of you do too. Well, guess what? I'm a clairvoyant and I just know that you all are going to do well. (Just pretend to believe it and you *will* do well. Trust me.)

Well, today I paid the phone bill with the last money I had and now I only have $5 next to my name. Boohoo! Theoretically, I have nothing next to my name since I have $200 of debt, but I try not to think too much about it. Well, not until some mean debt collector is knocking on my door.

You know what? Water tastes so good! Mmmm, water... ♥

Before I started today's blogging, I told Matt to kick my face if I blogged any online quiz, so no online quiz for today. Isn't it nice for a change? ;)

(But if you're dying to take some online quizzes, there are some pretty nice ones at Graham's, or the .org as he likes to call it. He might send you back to me, but trust me, he's blogged more online quizzes than I have in the past 5 days.) ♥

What happens when you combined the Beatles and Metallica? You get Beatallica! Cute. ♥

I don't usually get McSweeney's articles but I like this one: Loneliness, a Mathematical Proof. It's interesting and amusing at the same time. ♥

I think Diaries.com is new. It's a Manila site, which is pretty much like Weblogs.Com, but with different address and templates. If you sign up for an account, you'll get some space and tool to maintain a personal diary in weblog format. I kinda like the address. ♥

Thank you. Come again. ♥

I wonder if our dear Ev, the CEO of Pyra.com, knows that PYRA Development LLC is a company that holds the patent for "the non-retrievable storage of human remains and significant memorabilia." In other words, they'll cremate you when you die and then store your ashes in your very own pyramid. A thousand years from now, some archeologists might think that you were a king or queen in your time! Or something. Wacky. ♥

Thursday Evening Haiku

It's dark already
The tv's on but there is
Nothing interesting.

Well, another day will pass in a few hours. I've got to the point where every day feels just the same. If I didn't write the haiku, I probably wouldn't know what day it is. Except for Fridays. Friday is a day-off for my brother and sister-in-law. They usually come over here and take me out to the mall, which is always nice for a change. Tomorrow is Friday, and that is a good thing.

Have I mentioned that back in the good, old college days, I loved taking exams? Why do you think I like taking online quizzes so much? ;) It's the closest to taking exams I could ever get, now that I'm no longer a student. Still I miss taking real exams. I miss the excitement.

I hate job hunting. ♥

Anyone have a sample of cover letter that is convincing but doesn't contain a lot of BS? ♥

Click here for your sucker test results. No questions. No fuss. Just the results. Fun! ♥

SnowCraft is a really fun snowball fight game that used to be a big hit in 1998. I really wish we had snow here. Someday I'm going to live in a place with a lot of snow. Probably the Arctic. Yes. The Arctic. ♥

I've been having fun playing My Car Game. It's a little java puzzle game. What you need to do is help the red VW Beetle to exit. Bumper Cars is another fun car game, but I personally like the puzzle game better (because I did better there :P). ♥

Is Your Son a Computer Hacker? I hope this article is just a work of satire. It's plain ridiculous. Makes me glad my parents are not computer-literate. ♥

Which online personality test are you? Oh the metaness! According to it, I'm the Internet-Addict test. Hmm. Must be because the Blogaholic test is not one of the options. ♥

Wednesday Morning Haiku

Middle of the week,
Oh Wednesday you're so lonely,
My dear companion.


A haiku so Firda doesn't have to write her own, since she complained about it yesterday :) Nothing much else to say. My department Christmas party is this afternoon which should be fun. It's a potluck so everyone brings food. I made apple crisp. Mmmm apple crisp. I hope it's good. I haven't tried it yet.

I also should be studying for an exam I have on Friday. This could be the last exam I ever have to take. Actually I'm lying. I have to write an law and ethics exam when I decide to become a professional engineer. Darn it! ♥

Pocketful Of Stars is a really cute game. You help a little girl pick as many stars as she can. Of course I suck at this game. My highest score was 38. The top score was 456,446. See how much I suck? But I had fun anyway. ♥

Let's have a quiz fest: what kind of frog are you? And which work of art are you most like? ♥

If you want your baby to have an original name, try to avoid giving it any of the names listed on the 100 Most Popular Names for Births in 2001. If it's a girl, just name her Firda! ;) ♥

Hi. I'm a viking and my name is Ulfar the Fiend. My place is set at the tables of Valhalla. I'm also available as a cereal brand called Crispy Berrylicious Dandies, can be found in low-brow convenience marts everywhere. As a stripper, my stage name is The Mysterious Susannah Sparkles. The stage clears, and all eyes turn to me. But the real me is a hillbilly. My name is Betty Jo Carter, but everyone calls me Dixie.

I just gave myself a headache. ♥

I wasn't going to post this image because even I think that it's big and ugly. Not to mention that it has a high cheesiness level. But I just visited some weblogs that link to the silly quiz and saw that most of them cared enough to display the big, ugly, cheesy image, so what the heck:

♥

Tuesday Morning Haiku

Why do I have to
Be the one to write haiku?
Where are you, people?

It's almost 3:30 in the morning and I'm beginning to feel very sleepy. I've slept for less than 8 hours in 2 days combined. Sleep just doesn't appeal to me as much as it used to.

Anyway, it's actually nice to know for sure that I'm not going to Singapore. Now I can start applying for some jobs without any "what ifs". I hope I can find some web coordinator job out there. It's the kind of job that I think I'm going to enjoy doing. Well, either that, or internet researcher/reference librarian. I'm really proud of my mad searching skillz, you see :)

Hmmm, can't think of anything else to say. Better go to bed now. Goodnight! ♥

Goodbye?

(Man, goodbye sounds so final. I might still get online anyway tomorrow.) ♥

Playing the silly game of Driving Over Jakob Nielsen is oddly entertaining and relaxing. Must be the background music. But the game is endless. It gets kinda old after two laps and half a dozen Jakob Nielsens. ♥

Well, I just got the word that my employment pass application has been rejected, which means I can't go to Singapore to work even though I've accepted a job offer and signed the contract. So much for trying to find a better living.

Meanwhile, there really should be a "Society For Preventing Firda From Getting Beaten To Death By Debt Collectors". ♥

I've got "Jamaican Farewell" stuck in my head since last night (thanks to a late night TV program) and I just had to sing it to get it out of my head and you have to listen to my horrible singing because I own j00! Mwahahaha!!! ♥

So my blogging quiz site is finally up, and there is even a new quiz in the collection: Are You As Interesting As Your Weblog? Yeah, it's yet another stupid quiz. Standard disclaimer applies. I wrote the PHP quiz script myself, by the way. I rock my own face off! And in case you're wondering, my weblog is more interesting than me. I like it when my quiz results are accurate. ♥

QUACKY BIRTHDAY, NIKOLAI!

(Yeah, I know your birthday is yesterday, but when I posted this, it was still December 2 in your part of the world :P) ♥

Monday Morning Haiku

Three in the morning
I have been up for almost
Twenty-four hours.

There are plenty of mosquitoes in my room and they're having a party right now. My blood must be really yummy for them. Ugh! I haven't managed to kill one single mosquito tonight. Anyway, I'm supposed to be sleeping now. I have a 'flu and you can't get rid of 'flu if you don't get enough rest. But I've been feeling productive and I just can't go to sleep when I'm feeling productive, so here I am. But I'm going to sleep as soon as I posted this and a couple other things. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. ♥

I remember playing the Catch the Sperm Game online ages ago, but the site where I played it was no longer online. But you can always download it to your computer from here.

This game is probably the only HIV/AIDS-related game you can find all over the web. The aim of the game is to shoot HIV that swims along with sperm cells with a condom that you fire from your condom gun. How can you not download and play this game? ;) ♥

"Remember. Share. Tell others how you feel. Help build this quilt!"

Submit a 2" x 2" picture to AIDS 101 Online Memorial Quilt or just send in the name and any other information you want to include of anyone close to your heart who was taken away from you by AIDS.

Also read some true stories written by people who are living with AIDS. ♥

Take the AVERT's HIV & AIDS Quiz and find out how much you (don't) know about HIV/AIDS. I scored 80% in the general question category, 30% in the statistics-type question category, and 50% in the harder general question category. How about you? ♥

Oooh, ooh! This is not AIDS-related, but I just had to blog it while it was fresh. Yaysoft Weblog Directory (YayDir is just so goofy -- sorry, Matt :P) is now also processing the updates of all Blogger-powered weblogs, even those that don't ping Weblogs.Com! Now you can easily keep track on the updates of any Blogger-powered weblog. And guess who pointed Matt "in the right direction for getting this going" ;) Coolness! ♥

This World AIDS Day, do something new and adventurous. Send these fun, AIDS awareness-themed greeting cards to the people you care about. ♥

The AIDS 2001 multimedia presentation by the United Nations offers some basic facts about AIDS epidemic in 2001 and includes a short message from the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. ♥

Saturday Afternoon Haiku

It's the World AIDS Day
Have you joined Link and Think?
I myself have not.

Mainly because I didn't think I'd still be online today. But I'm going to do my share anyway by posting some HIV/AIDS-related links. I'll be doing it mostly to educate myself because I'm aware that I still know very little about HIV/AIDS. But if you would learn together with me by clicking the links that I posted today, that would be really awesome :) ♥