Wednesday, 27 February 2002 11:59pm I f you've been wondering where I've been this week, well, I guess I'll tell you. I haven't been anywhere, but I've had internet connectivity issues since the weekend. Last weekend there was some Road Runner routing issue that allowed me to get to most websites, but there were a few that I could not get to, one of which was twentysix.net, so there was no way to make any sort of updates during those times. I mean, I guess if I was really dedicated, I could have used a dialup account, but I'm not that dedicated. Today, I felt as though my arm was chopped off as I had no internet connection at all. In fact, no Road Runner customers in San Diego did. Their explanation was that a fiber optic line in Los Angeles had been "cut". I wonder how that happened? But thankfully, I seem to have a fully functioning cable modem connection now. I've had the song "Windmills of Your Mind" stuck in my head all day. I learned today that it was originally written by Henry Mancini. I was first introduced to the song through the version Sting recorded for the new Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack. I wonder how many other versions of it are floating around out there? A big theme of this song is spinning, going around in circles, etc... it's very seductive, and well, it get's stuck in your head, going round and round, "like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind". Hmm. I must look like a total geek, sitting here behind my wall of monitors, jockeying between two sets of keyboards and mice... the one thing that always surprises me about myself is my ability to effortlessly switch between mac and PC keyboard shortcuts... since many Windows shortcuts are based on the "control" key, but their equivalent Mac ones are based on the "command" key, which relative to a PC keyboard is where the "alt" key would be. Like to paste in windows you'd use CTRL-V, but on a mac it would be command-V... even if I have Photoshop opened on both some how without even thinking about it, I have no problem switching between the two. Yet, one thing that always messes me up is if I plug in this mac keyboard (which is USB) into a PC (which works by the way), because although the CTRL key functions as it should, for some reason I keep wanting to reach for the command key, which I think when plugged into a PC translates into the stupid windows95 key. Maybe my fingers just instinctively know the right combination to use by feel rather than my brain knowing by which operating system I'm currently using. Hmmm. Weird. Why do people make big productions out of little decisions? Like deciding where to eat. Many people seem to need to know exactly where they are going before they start the car. Is that normal? I've gotten used to driving in a certain direction, not necessarily knowing exactly where I want to go. Usually I end up at the same old places, but I certainly don't feel strange if I set out not knowing that I was going to end up at that specific place. Besides, how would you ever find any place new if you always knew exactly where you were going to go before you got there? Anyway. I think it's making big productions out of little decisions such as this that make so many people's lives so much more stressful than they really need to be. It's just you creating extra stress in your life that you don't need. Yup. People would be living much happier, stress-free lives if they didn't a) create stress for themselves, and b) stress about situations that are completely beyond their control. An example of type "a" I already talked about... what is it going to hurt if you don't know exactly where you are going to go to eat if, in that particular situation, it really doesn't matter where you eat? I'm not talking about taking an important client out to a power lunch. I'm talking about when you don't have anywhere you need to be and you have all the time in the world... why not just explore? What will it hurt? And for the type "b": stressing about situations you have no control over... I'm talking about the situations where no matter what you do, there is no way you can change the situation. For example, sitting in traffic. Why get mad, angry, worried, or stressed while sitting in traffic? No amount of lane changing, stressing, fuming, or road raging is going to get you going to where you want to be any faster. If you're going to be late for something really important, well, you're already going to be late, and there is nothing you can do about it. Stress about being late when you are actually able to do something about it. Worrying about it when there is nothing you can do won't accomplish anything and is only going to make you pop a blood vessel, or do something really stupid. And on the other hand, why get stressed about being stuck in traffic if your destination really isn't that important? Yes, it does suck that your commute home is a 15 minute drive that takes 2 hours but getting worked up about it will not get you home any faster. Relax. Let it go. There's nothing you can do, so there's nothing you should worry about. Spend the time relaxing, or thinking of constructive things, or thinking of nothing at all. Just don't stress or worry during that time because no good can come of it. Oh yeah, last weekend, Kenny and Julie came down from LA to visit me and Cindy. It was like old times again, the four of us being together. It hasn't really been like that since freshman year in collage which was now... what, 7 years ago now? A few days ago someone from the riceboypage message board said he occasionally checks out mine and cami's web journals and that we "live interesting lives". Looking at the random babbling going on above, I think I'd have to say I disagree. Anyways, none of the really interesting stuff even makes it on to the Internet anyway! Haha. Oh yeah, last night I watched the movie Crash. I didn't put it up on the dvdreview cuz it was actually on tape. I think this movie was supposed to be artsy, but it ended up being more like twisted soft-core porn, and I guess you could say I didn't really appreciate it for much more than that aspect of it. To the David Cronenberg fans out there, I'm sorry, but to me, Crash was just like any late night Skinemax movie but with car crashes. Hmm. I just started two paragraphs in a row with the words "oh yeah". Welp that's enough rambling for more than a few days. If you've made it this far, I salute you!